Ball boy 'boasted of time wasting'

The ball boy who sparked a furious reaction from Chelsea star Eden Hazard apparently boasted of time wasting on Twitter before the match.

Chelsea forward Hazard has avoided criminal charges for apparently kicking the ball boy during his side's Capital One Cup semi-final against Swansea City on Wednesday night.

Tempers flared in the final minutes of the second-leg match with Chelsea trailing 0-2 on aggregate, when the teenage ball boy refused to return an out of play ball.

He was seen to be kicked by the Belgian player after refusing to give him the ball, and Hazard was sent off.

But the ball boy, understood to be 17-year-old Charlie Morgan, appears to have taken part in the match with the intention of time wasting.

One pre-match tweet on his account reads: "The king of all ball boys is back making his final appearance #needed #for #timewasting."

Hazard and the teenager were interviewed by South Wales Police in the aftermath of the incident. The ball boy, who was uninjured, was interviewed by officers in the presence of his father and made no complaint about what happened.

Since the incident, the college student has gained more than 77,000 followers on Twitter - although not all are supportive.

Chelsea manager Rafa Benitez said the ball boy and the Chelsea star exchanged apologies in the dressing room after the match. "They apologised to each other," Benitez said. "They both talked. The boy knows he was wasting time. Hazard was frustrated and trying to get the ball back."

A Swansea spokesman confirmed no action would be taken, and that Chelsea had invited the 17-year-old, who has been a ball boy at the Liberty Stadium for six years, into their dressing room.