Blues right to fume

07 May 2009 13:02
Dermot Gallacher has leapt to the defence of Henning Ovrebo - but still admits Chelsea should have had two penalties. The Norwegian official was at the centre of a Stamford Bridge storm on Tuesday night as he waved away at least five penalty appeals as the Blues hearts were broken by Barcelona. Andres Iniesta's stoppage-time striker took the Spanish side through to the final courtesy of the away goal ruling, but Chelsea were left seething about some of the key decisions that went against them. Didier Drogba was seen remonstrating with Ovrebo at the final whistle, while Michael Ballack chased him half the length of the pitch after seeing a last-ditch handball appeal against Samuel Eto'o waved away. Guus Hiddink said ater the game that it was the worst display of refereeing he had seen, but former Premier League official Gallacher, says that is not the case. "I think 24 hours later he may come out and see that this wasn't the best refereeing performance at this level," he told Sky Sports News. "But no way it was the worst of all time. Okay, it wasn't his best day at the office, but week in week out, that's far from the worst you'll see." But Gallacher had some sympathy for Chelsea. He believes that they had a decent case for four spot kicks, that would surely have set up a repeat of last year's final with Manchester United, in Rome on May 27. Here he gives his verdict on Henning's five flashpoints... NUMBER ONE - ALVEZ ON MALOUDA"It was 50-50. I don't know when you blow for the foul. There's a definite foul outside the area, although it continues inside the area. On this occasion I would support what the referee did." NUMBER TWO - ABIDAL ON DROGBA"This one for me is a definite foul. He's grabbing his shirt, taking him down and at that point Drogba has no reason to go down. A man of his ability can still score." NUMBER THREE - PIQUE HANDBALL"A phrase I use all the time is 'all the clues are there'. I think it has to be handball - look at the direction it goes in, he's almost stopped it and looked round at the referee with the expression 'what have I done?'." NUMBER FOUR - ETO'O HANDBALL"The pressure's building all the time, all those appeals have been turned down. The Ballack incident at the end in my opinion wasn't a a penalty. Having been under so much pressure, if he was going to give one, that was the opportunity." NUMBER FIVE - ABIDAL RED CARD"I was amazed he gave a red card. My reaction was that he clipped himself, so it was a particularly harsh decision. It was a very, very tough decision and very, very harsh on the player because he now misses the final."

Source: SKY_Sports