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Thursday, May 7, 2009

Terry: Referee was not good enough

Chelsea captain John Terry has launched a scathing attack on Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.
The England international claimed that he was not good enough to take charge of their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona
Ovrebo rejected four clear penalty appeals from Chelsea - two for handball - as Chelsea went crashing out to a 93rd minute goal from Andres Iniesta.
The Blues were coasting to victory and a repeat of last year's final against Manchester United when Michael Essien put them in front with a stunning volley in the ninth minute.
But while Iniesta's late strike earned Barca a place in the May 27 final in Rome, Terry let rip over the Norwegian official's performance.
His comments may now land him in hot water with UEFA but the England captain was adamant that Ovrebo was not up to the job.
"Over two legs Barcelona played well but the fact is that, in this game, we had six or seven penalty claims waved away and that is astonishing," fumed Terry.
"Anywhere else, anywhere else in the world that would not happen.
"You can see he might not have given the first one, but come the second where Nicolas Anelka puts it round Gerard Pique and he slams it down with his hand?
"It's decisions like that which are wrong - Darren Fletcher misses the final after being sent-off for Manchester United on Tuesday, a bad decision.
"He can't play in the final and neither can we, because of a bad decision in this match."
Terry would not accuse UEFA of a conspiracy to deny the London side a repeat of last year's final against United but he lashed out at the governing body for appointing such an inexperienced referee.
"The word conspiracy is maybe the wrong one," said Terry. "It's difficult when players are so high on emotion after a game.
"However, people are saying we shouldn't have reacted the way we did.
"But the fact is, six decisions went against us in front of 40,000 people. And for the ref to not give one of them is unusual.
"So it's not surprising for us to come off the field and show that emotion.
"Why did we get a referee who has officiated in 10 games in the Champions League in his career?
"To be given the Champions League semi-final, that's not good enough."
Ovrebo refused to hand Chelsea first half penalties when Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda were both hauled down inside the area.
Then in the second half, Pique clearly handled and in the last minute, after Barca's equaliser, Michael Ballack's shot hit the arm of Samuel Eto'o.
Ballack was so incensed that he ran fully 40 yards protesting alongside the referee and was eventually yellow carded.
But worse was to come on the final whistle when Drogba, who had been substituted in the second half, appeared from the tunnel to confront the Norwegian.
The Ivorian was kept away from Ovrebo by Chelsea stewards but then hurled foul-mouthed abuse down the TV cameras.
His rant of "It's a f****** disgrace" in front of the watching millions forced Sky to apologise for his behaviour.
Ovrebo has amazingly been picked to officiate at next year's World Cup finals despite courting controversy in Euro 2008.
He took charge of qualifying matches in the 2006 World Cup and Euro 2008 before a two match appearance at the latter tournament.
Ovrebo refereed Germany's opening match against Poland and was also in charge of Italy's 1-1 draw with Romania.
However, he was widely criticised for awarding the Romanians a dubious spot-kick and incorrectly ruling out an Italian goal.
He apologised for his errors and did not referee another game in the tournament.
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