ESPN Soccernet - Paper Round - Mad Drog on the loose

Posted by Dom Raynor on 05/07/2009

There's only one topic dominating the back pages of the newspapers on Thursday morning and that is the angry scenes that followed the final whistle at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League following a 1-1 draw with Barcelona.

After having three clear penalty decisions turned down by Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo Barcelona scored with their first shot on target and it was too much to take for Blues striker Didier Drogba. The Sun's headline of 'Drog Attacks Ref In Tunnel - Vicious F-Word Rant' says it all really.

The report claims Drogba faces a huge UEFA ban after confronting Ovrebo. An Eye witness told the paper: "He [Drogba] kept slamming his hand to the wall just inches from the ref's face. Ovrebo looked terrified - but never said anything."

The Guardian focus on the fact that Drogba, who was substituted after appearing to be injured, raced out of the changing rooms at full-time to remonstrate with the referee and then turned his attention to the TV cameras as he shouted: "Are you watching this? It's a disgrace. It's a fucking disgrace."

The outburst was broadcast live on air, prompting an apology from the broadcasters.

The Daily Mail carry a column written by former Champions League referee Graham Poll who insists that while Chelsea should have been awarded at least one penalty for "a trip, a body check and two handballs" their behaviour in the closing stages and after the final whistle was unacceptable.

Poll claims that Chelsea's players will regret their antics towards the referee, especially Michael Ballack, whose aggressive chasing on the pitch of the official, following the failure to award a penalty in extra-time after Barcelona's equaliser, may lead to a rebuke from UEFA.

Meanwhile, Barcelona defender Gerard Pique told the Daily Telegraph that the referee got it wrong and that the ball did strike his hand in the penalty area, but insists it was not deliberate.

"To be fair, it touched my hands but it was not deliberate," Pique said. "The referee can decide what he wants and you have to respect the decisions. Sometimes they are wrong."

The word 'conspiracy' appeared in quotes from Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink and captain John Terry in a number of reports but both suggested it is a "very tough word" to describe what happened.

Amidst all this it is easy to forget that Andres Iniesta and Michael Essien scored two great goals in a closely fought semi-final and that Barcelona will face Manchester United in a mouth-watering final in Rome.

United's semi-final against Arsenal had its own controversy and The Independent report that the referee assessor's report into Italian official Roberto Rosetti's performance is expected to back his decision to dismiss Darren Fletcher, so denying the United midfielder any lingering hopes of taking a place in the European Cup final.

But Fletcher's disappointment is good news for fellow midfielder Park Ji-Sung, who has been promised a place in United's line-up for the Champions League final, according to the Daily Express. Park was left out of the squad for United's victory over Chelsea on penalties last year.

In non-Champions League news former England manager Steve McClaren, who is currently at the helm of FC Twente, has emerged as the front-runner to become Ajax's new coach following the departure of Marco van Basten, according to The Times.

And Newcastle United's players have backed manager Alan Shearer over his feud with Joey Barton, report the Daily Mirror. Shearer has told Barton to stay away from the club until the end of the season.

Comments

Posted by will-i-am on 05/07/2009

the referee is absolutely blind. How can they give this substandard guy to be in charge of such a game? He should be looking for some other career.

Posted by Royston on 05/07/2009

4 obvious penalties yet not even one given. It is obviously something gone wrong somewhere.

Posted by mr. neutral on 05/07/2009

As a Barca fan, the ref made alot of mistakes. Alves should have gotten 3 yellow cards if I was reffing yesterday.
But in retro, the same thing happened at Camp Nou last week. Chelsea got away with playing really dirty. All I can say is that..its life. the better team won yesterday and i feel sorry for Chelsea

Posted by shou on 05/07/2009

good job drogba! i support u

Posted by michael on 05/07/2009

One thing Chelsea players need to know is that the refree is the one who dicides not them. The ref was fair to both clubs. The red card given to berca player wasn't deserved but we know his sayings are final.

Posted by Ballard on 05/07/2009

I understand that this is just a game, but this is also Ovrebo's job, he should have done better. My thoughts are in tune with Drogs, Ballack, JT, and Guus, and I more than likely would have reacted the same way. If there ever was a game that should be used as evidence to support and instant replay system, this would have to be it. It's getting out of control.

Posted by manny on 05/07/2009

a reply to this mr. neutral guy.....it was a tie. a lucky goal. a lucky win. 4 penalty calls all scuffed. chelsea won't miss 4 penalties.

Posted by BRad on 05/07/2009

drogba is the disgrace. simple as that.

Posted by Arsenal fan on 05/07/2009

I wanted Barca to win but Chelsea was the better team yesterday. I understand their reactions 100%, but UEFA has to show control and discipline them. The players need to just accept the punishment and move on.

Posted by Football Lover on 05/07/2009

For such an important big match, Ovrebo was indeed a "Disgrace" to both himself and UEFA (for selecting him). No doubt he is human but the number of mistakes done was totally unaccepted !!! I wonder why UEFA had never been graceful enough to admit that they too had done a mistake. One word : INJUSTICE !!!

Posted by Ultimate on 05/07/2009

He is the best ref I have ever seen in action. Keep it up Ovrebo

Posted by lupe on 05/08/2009

Barca deserved to win by all means. I wouldn't be able to stand and watch another boring Chelsea game becasue all they do is wait and counter attack. If you want to be the best in the world play like it. Chelsea has good quality players and it's a shame to see such talent go to waste with defensive boring football tactics. I'm rooting for Man U. They're the best with Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi doesn't come close to him.

Posted by mrneutralisanorwegianref. on 05/08/2009

mr. neutral - exactly what game did you watch?? Can't have been the Chels Barca game since Chelsea were clearly the better team on the night. Barca were exposed as being totally one dimensional and managed only one shot on target all game. The sending off made little or no difference to the flow of the game (maybe Chelsea should have capitalized more on this..) but the 2 clear penalties deined certainly would have. Man Utd will have Barca on toast after what i have seen over the 2 legs, fact.

Posted by Curtis on 05/08/2009

Whatever...

All of the chelsea players could be mad, except Drogba. He missed so many one on one chances that it was sickening...and I'm a Barcelona fan. Valdez stonewalled Drogba. He has no one to blame but himself. If he had made even one of the many goal chances he had...Chelsea would be through to the final.

But he was utterly pathetic in his play, and so he took it out on the ref.

And everyone who has followed football for more than 10 seconds knows that if you play defensively against a team like barcelona too long, you're eventually going to get a stake in the heart. It always happens. Manchester didn't wait around for Arsenal to score, they went out and scored 3 goals in the second leg.

Had Chelsea done the same, they'd have been celebrating. It's their own fault they lost...especially Drogba's.

Posted by HL82 on 05/08/2009

Chelsea kept bringing up "penalties". Can they only beat Barca with penalties? Can't they score from open play?

Posted by Daniel on 05/08/2009

I am sick of English whingers. Simply put, Barca went down to 10 men (unfairly) and Chelsea didn't change tactics and finish the game off... instead Guus played it safe (like he always does) and Chelsea got what they deserved. Is the referee a good referee? No, he's a terrible one but the reality is his bad decisions went both ways. Further, English sides have mastered the art of the soft foul... that is, foul em as much as you like as long as it's not hard enough to earn you a yellow... Have a look at both games. At some point Fifa will have to clamp down on this and direct the referees to give yellows to continual foulers.

Viva Barca, can't wait for the final!!!

Sucked in Chelsea, you choked... again!!!

Posted by wisey_9 on 05/08/2009

regardless of whether the 4 penalty calls should have been awarded (pique's obviously should have been.. the others are all debatable), the chelsea players reactions were entirely out of order and UEFA should sanction them severely for bringing the game into disrepute...

Posted by Peter on 05/08/2009

I believe there was only one clear penalty.

- The first half incident when drogba was brought down was hardly a blatant penalty.

- Malouda was fouled outside the box ... a close up of the incident shows this quite clearly. he fell into the box after the foul.

- Balack's shot was 1)going over the stand and 2) hit Eto on the armpit as his back was turned.

- Pique - well that was the blantant one. Almost as blatant as the penalty Henry should have been given at the Camp Nou.

- The refereeing in both games was appalling. It's funny that last week, the barca fans were complaining after they didn't get the result they wanted, and we are getting the same thing this week.

The sad thing is that Chelsea have their selves to blame. They clearly have the talent to take the game to barca, but they chose to sit back. Even with a one man advantage they chose not to kill the game off. For that - they didn't deserve to go through......

Posted by Anuj on 05/08/2009

As a footballer myself it saddens me deeply that referees get protected repeatedly after having changed the outcome of an important game. For Chelsea supporters the referee is a cheat and for the rest he was simply underqualified and inefficient. Ovreba has proved his ineptitude earlier as well in the Euro Cup and UEFA should have noted that.
Players dream of being in the Champions League final and they build an entire life around playing better football and being fit. When their hard work is jilted only by the bad decisions of European football's governing body and one man who should never have been in the middle of the field it makes you wonder if its only the players, managers and teams that are improving their standards. Obviously Drogba and Ballack will bear the brunt of an understandable flare-up and be labelled 'indisciplined' by those who have never a ball.
As humans we all makes mistakes but in this world of technology we can certianly decrease the chances of gaping errors.

Posted by Man fan S.A on 05/08/2009

I agree with arsenal fan, chelsea were the better team, very unlucky. Chelsea must pick themselves up and moove on.

Posted by Anonymous on 05/09/2009

I am still laughing at Chelsea "misfortune". I guess the concept of karma is hard to deal with for some Chelsea supporters who still failed to see how often Drogba dive or how badly some of the antics of Chelsea players for the past few years.

Posted by Joseph on 05/11/2009

It was a good contest between 2 great teams. On the night the referee had a "shocker", but no amount of protestation is going to change the officials mind. What a number of the Chelsea players really need to understand is that you just can't assault and verbally abuse the officials, regardless of how bad they perform. With the paymasters, sponsors and their clients watching around the world, I suspect UEFA will be forced to hand out stinging fines and bans to both 'Ref Tormentor' "Ballack" and that lunatic "Drogba". Wouldn't it be nice if they could take a leaf out of John Terry's book, who was obviously disappointed but shook hands and held his head high.

Posted by cekar on 05/13/2009

There was only one clear penalty,not four.
Chelsea----loser..............................

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