The aftermath of last nights game has been as furious as the onscreen raging that saw the referee escorted from the field. Calls of ‘conspiracy’ from Guus Hiddink has the footballing world asking all sorts of questions as people hope justice is served on those who turned a promising prospect of a match between two powerhouses from the glory of football to the cries of scandal.

The Uefa champions’ league semi-final was riddled with controversy as Barcelona knocked Chelsea out of the competition with a late equaliser form the Magnificent Andres Iniesta. The game had been tightly contested for the entire game with Barcelona dominating possession and Chelsea with the most attempts on goal. Iniesta’s winner was Barcelona’s first shot on goal. This magnificent strike was the reply Barca needed for the wonder goal from Essien that had put Chelsea ahead in the eight minute. But despite these wondrous strikes, it was a far crueller side of football that was to steal the show at Stamford Bridge.

 

Referee Tom Henning Overbo, from the ‘Tippeligaen’ in Norway, made some calls that that proved influential to the demise of Chelsea’s champions’ league aspirations, as well as calling into question UEFA’s administrative choices. Overbo had previously been a Uefa referee at the Euro 2008 and was relieved from the remainder of his tournament duties for making an absolute blunder of the Romania vs. Italy fixture. How can Uefa put a referee in charge of a match of such magnitude, that has only ever refereed 10 Champions league games in his career, and was previously disciplined for a nightmare UEFA match previously? Hindsight maybe 20/20 vision, but you have to think that a game with two great sides is going to be tight, and a weak ref will always jeopardise the credibility of such a fixture. Guss Hiddink has gone so far as to propose that Uefa did not want an all English final because it compromised the standard of Football in Europe? We will never know. I don’t think the game could have been thrown, but why did the linesman not intervene and make decisions in some instances where it might have been ‘harder’ for Overbo to call?

 

It’s a tough pill to swallow for Chelsea supporters and it seems that with the world rooting for Barcelona, the injustice of the situation is overlooked. Many neutrals have commented that Chelsea were done in, but with a Barca win their desired outcome they don’t give two hoots in the end. That sort of consolation just doe not quite cover the hurt of being robbed of a place in the champions’ league final. Overbo from the Norwegian ‘Tippeligaen’ was way out of his depth and for that Chelsea have paid the price. In fact, name three sides in the ‘Tippeligaen’ (without google) and I’ll retract such sentiments!

I accept that some of the players were out of line to bombard the officials, but at the end of a game when you have seen your season’s aspirations crumble at the hands of a horrific referring display; emotions are going to run high. I hold Ballack more to blame than Drogba for his on pitch assault of the Norwegian, Ballack should have got red, but why didn’t he? Was the ref compromising for something?


I was totally devastated by the loss and needed this space to vent some of my anguish. Chelsea sided it may be, but any sane soccer fan should be able to feel for the way Chelsea were removed from their dreams of lifting the Champions League. Hope the boys can pick themselves up. They really did so well, containing an attacking legacy like Barcelona to one shot, creating more on their way, playing marvellously and coming short to the hands of Fate… not for the first time.

CHELSEA FOREVER