CHRIS Sutton rammed Frank Leboeuf's on-field taunts about English football and Blackburn Rovers back down the Frenchman's throat after a stormy night at Stamford Bridge.

Sutton, skippering Rovers to a hard-won point in a game of seven yellow cards, two reds and a touchline confrontation involving sent-off Chelsea boss Gianluca Vialli and Brian Kidd, was furious about Leboeuf's attitude as the pair were involved in a running battle during the 90 minutes.

And referee Uriah Rennie came under fire from Vialli.

Leboeuf has already been criticised for his recent remarks about English players in the wake of the Wembley defeat and Sutton said: "We all know Frank Leboeuf has won the World Cup now.

"He won the World Cup and got a big reputation and I also think he's got a hell of a big ego now.

"I have played against him a number of times and he has always seemed a perfect gentleman.

"But we started the game and he was very critical of the English game, saying how wonderful the Franch game is.

"That's fair enough.

"But he was saying how poor a team Blackburn were and that all we played was 'fight-ball'.

"Credit to Chelsea, they are a good side and Frank Leboeuf is a good player. But I certainly think he's got a big ego. "Things do go on in the game and I was angry.

"When I play I don't normally spout my mouth off to people but if somebody has a pop at me, I'm entitled to have a pop back.

"And I feel riled when the English game is criticised.

"I know France won the World Cup. They are an excellent team and beat England at Wembley last week.

"But that doesn't mean the whole English game is bad."

Sutton refuted the suggestion there was any bad blood between the sides after Graeme Le Saux and Sebastien Perez had been sent off in the Ewood clash earlier this season.

"Graeme Le Saux is a former Blackburn player, there's no bitterness there," he said.

"The squad has changed but everybody still gets on.

"We're in a position where we are scrapping for points, they are going for the title and they are an excellent team. "But in the end we worked hard for a point."

He also clearly felt Marlon Broomes had been wound up, leading to the late incident when the defender and Chelsea player-manager Gianluca Vialli were shown the red card.

"I thought it was quite a heated game. We were up for it because it was important we came away and got a point.

"But there are instances which happen in a game which can get you riled and aggravated.

"Marlon Broomes was outstanding at the back.

"He has come in when we have had injuries and held his own against some of the best strikers."

Sutton restricted his comments on the referee to a simple: "I think he plays things as he sees it. Maybe if we were at Blackburn we would have got a lot more decisions."

Vialli, however, was more forthcoming, describing the ref as "arrogant".

"I am more disappointed, not for my sending-off but for the yellow cards. Most of them were useless," he said.

"It has been very difficult to understand a lot of the referee's decisions. I am not only talking about Chelsea players, the Blackburn players were very frustrated because they didn't know what to do.

"Sometimes you could push the opponent hard and the referee said play on.

"Other times the small, little thing was enough to make the referee blow the whistle.

"I don't know what's going on. I have to say I am a bit disappointed with him because you can make mistakes but it is about attitude as well and I think the referee was quite arrogant. "He reminded me of my years in Italy when you couldn't communicate with referees. To be fair to English referees, you can always speak to them and they will speak to you. "And when they make a mistake they hold their hands up and say 'I'm human, I made a mistake.'

On his dismissal for the clash with Broomes, Vialli said: "Frank Leboeuf played a long ball, I chased it and I pushed the opponent, he caught me. I twisted my ankle and then you saw what happened. I think he was angry with me but I don't like to talk about what happened."

Kidd added: "I don't know what went on in the sending off incident. I didn't detect anything untoward before the game."

On the confrontation with Vialli, he added: "My daughter's learning Italian and I was trying my pidgin Italian on him."

Broomes will now miss the FA Cup quarter final against Everton if Rovers get through, as one of his three-match ban.

Providing Rovers beat Newcastle, Sutton is also set to sit that one out with a one-game suspension for eight bookings.

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