Calm down, calm down: Blues boss Hiddink and a Stamford
Bridge minder fail to control the livid forward
Chelsea's bid for
Champions League revenge ended in heartbreak and anger last night.
Didier Drogba’s foul-mouthed outburst at Norwegian referee Tom
Henning Ovrebo after the final whistle went over the top and is
bound to attract UEFA’s attention.
As Ovrebo walked past Drogba, who had been substituted
in the second half, the Chelsea striker shouted into a television
camera: ‘Are you watching this? It is a f******
disgrace.’
Ovrebo is said to have admitted to UEFA officials that he made
some major mistakes in the game. This is bound to form part of an
investigation into the officiating of such a high-pressure tie.
Drogba, sent off against United in last year’s final defeat in
Moscow, had to be restrained by manager Guus Hiddink before
storming off to the dressing room.
The reaction from the Chelsea fans was equally furious. They
were incensed that four clear claims for a penalty — one for a foul
on Florent Malouda by Dani Alves, another by Eric Abidal on Drogba,
and two handball shouts against Gerard Pique and Samuel Eto’o — had
been waved away by the official.
Rage: A furious Ballack screams at the referee.
Pique admitted he did touch the ball with his hand but
said: ‘The ref can decide what he wants and he decided it was not a
penalty.’
Chelsea had looked on course for a chance to avenge last year’s
defeat on penalties by United after Michael Essien’s stunning
ninth-minute volley, but Iniesta grabbed Barcelona’s vital away
goal with one added minute remaining.
Teutonic turmoil: Ballack appears to strike Ovrebo
in his furious pursuit of the official.
Hiddink admitted his team should have put the result
beyond doubt. He said: ‘We should have scored in an open situation.
But we could talk a lot about penalties not given. There were three
situations that were so clear. I shall not say what I really feel.
We all feel injustice. You should ask the people at UEFA who gave
the referee this game. You have seen clearly — and he was five
yards away — the handball by Pique... the hand was going up. If he
was blocked from seeing it, then there is also an assistant
referee.’
Asked whether the refereeing performance had anything to do with
UEFA not wanting two English teams in the final again, Hiddink
added: ‘You can never prove this. It’s just said out of
emotion.’
Chelsea captain John Terry said: ‘The word conspiracy is maybe
the wrong one. It’s difficult when players are so high on emotion
after a game. People are saying we shouldn’t have reacted the way
we did. But those decisions went against us in front of 40,000
people and for the ref to not give one of them is unusual.
‘Why did we get a referee who has officiated in 10 games in the
Champions League in his career? I’m fully behind Didier, the way he
reacted. It is the referee who should face the consequences, not
Didier. We did what we needed to do to beat Barcelona and we expect
referees to do the right thing.’
Heartbreak: Iniesta's late strike put paid to
Chelsea's dreams of Rome
Barca coach Pep Guardiola was full of praise for the way
his side battled back despite having Eric Abidal sent off it the
66th minute. ‘I can understand that Chelsea are disappointed about
the referee but I didn’t see the penalty claims,’ he said. ‘What I
saw was that we tried to win the game.’
To dampen Barca’s joy, both they and United will be allocated
only 19,500 tickets each for the final in Rome on May 27, an issue
both sides will no doubt be taking up with UEFA.
