So last weeks sorry excuse of a game that pitted Chelsea against Barcelona for the UEFA Champions League ended with a foreign team stealing a win at the Bridge and a country ready to execute the Norwegian who masqueraded as a referee.
Chelsea was poised to advance among many disarrayed announcers and analysts who had Barcelona running up the score against the Blues. These very professionals even began pairing Man U and Barca in the finals weeks before the match even started. For more than 90 minutes, Chelsea kept their 1-0 lead. However, 2 minutes into stoppage time in the second half, Andrés Iniesta marched downfield and scored the equalizer. It was not the last minute goal that caused all of the problems at Stamford Bridge, although it contributed to it; it was the inability of referee Tom Henning Ovrebo to make obvious calls that cost Chelsea the match. Chelsea players, coaches, staff, and supporters believed that they were screwed out of win and their rightful ticket…and with good reason. One of the first issues came in the first half when Malouda was fouled in the box, which would have resulted in a penalty kick, but the ball was placed outside of the box. Drogba was also pulled down on multiple occasions…yes, I know he is a good actor and does not deserve all the calls he gets, but there were a few occasions where there should have been penalties called, some of which were in the box. In addition to this, there were also 2 blatant hand balls in the box. There were 4 legit penalty kicks owed to Chelsea. What did the ref do? Nothing at all. No fouls were called on these plays. I am not complaining just because I am a Chelsea supporter, but for crying out loud, that was the worse officiating I have ever seen…even worse than that zebra’s inability to see a goal go into the net 4 feet from him during the Red Wings game against the Ducks.
Even if Chelsea won the game, I do not think that they would be able to beat Manchester United in the finals. However, the finals should be a rematch of last year…not the English Premier Champions vs. the Spanish La Liga Champions. Personally, I think that UEFA may have planned this. Think about this: the two best teams in the world right now fighting it out for the Champions League Title in a winner take all game in Rome. Think of the marketing, the ticket sales, the media coverage, the merchandise sales, the hype, and more importantly the potential to create a lasting rivalry that could mark up ticket prices for future competitions between these teams. This type of game would appeal to a much wider audience if both Manchester United and Barca were playing than if Man U were to play Chelsea. Just saying…it could just be me.
Anyways, UEFA seemed more distracted with potentially disciplining various Chelsea players like Drogba for his remarks and behavior after the game and Ballack’s actions on the field after he did not agree with Ovrebo’s decision not to penalize Gerard Pique for a hand ball. UEFA has announced that both of these athletes have undermined the UEFA’s respect campaign, however, I do not think that Drogba cares for the UEFA big wigs.
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