Chelsea’s attempt to become club world champions ended in tears of regret and angry accusations of play-acting, with Gary Cahill incensed at the reaction of Corinthians’ Emerson after tangling with the forward in the last minute. The England defender was dismissed as the Brazilian club prevailed, courtesy of Paolo Guerrero’s second-half winner.

The defeat ensured Chelsea passed up a potential third trophy this term, albeit only after the Community Shield and European Super Cup, to accompany their failure to emerge from their Champions League group.

Rafael Benitez must now raise weary and crestfallen players, many of whom slumped to the turf at the final whistle as the Brazilians celebrated, ahead of Wednesday’s League Cup quarter-final at Leeds, with preparation time limited and fears abounding over jet lag from today’s 13-hour flight home.

Cahill will be suspended for that game at Elland Road, with Fifa to determine this week whether the ban should include Sunday’s match against Aston Villa.

“It was a bad reaction from me: I tackled him, we tangled up, he lashed out with his arm and hit me in the face,” said the centre half. “I thought that was out of order but I reacted in a bad way. I am angry about it. I’m disappointed in myself for my reaction but also because it’s okay for someone to lash out at you but you do something back and it’s deemed a red card.

“It probably is a red card but the reaction of the guy is totally out of order for what I did. If you see the impact it wouldn’t have been enough to knock over my one-year-old daughter. I’m still angry. There are two different stories. Someone’s smashed me in the face but I didn’t roll around on the floor for five minutes holding my head. I got up, reacted and tapped him in the shin. He felt the need to go down, roll around on the floor about five times holding his face. I suppose that’s the story of the game really.”

Guardian Service