Chelsea v. Barca [R]

[Rufusabc]

Might as well open it up.......wow.....that was about as poor a performance in a big match we have seen in a really long time......and since this is a referee board I'm not talking about the two teams!

[ManiacalClown]

That was simply amazing.

[code1390]

Um..yeah.

The handling was a 100% no doubt about it penalty...not given
There was the foul in the corner of the area in the first half. Pretty clear penalty.
There was the one where Drogba (or was it Anelka?) that got his jersey grabbed pretty good. Would have been kinda harsh.

And then the sending off was very poor.

Besides that you had a great goal by Barca in the final minutes and the CL goal of the decade by Chelsea.

[soccerman8067]

I feel like i have issues with two of the calls. Not quite sure about the Barca send off!! Of course i only saw it once but the angle i saw i was like oh crap what are you doing!!! The other was the Barca handball that quite possibly could have been called. Not the one at the end but before. other than that if anyone comes at me like Ballack and and makes contact, good bye!

[code1390]

Could be Anders Frisk all over again.

[Another NH Ref]

Ummm, (NR) in the title mean NO RESULTS.

Mod, please change the title.

[IASocFan]

It's hard to talk about a game like this without discussing some of the results.

If you don't want to know, don't come here!!!

TREAD Title has been changed. Feel free to discuss anything referee related in this game.

I can't wait to watch the Second Half...

[ThreeCards]

Can't remember ever having seen four ungiven penalties in one game. Terrible job by the center, and his assistants were not much help. Hate to see a game in which one team is allowed to mug attackers every time they come into the area, and not be punished for it. The send off was a make up call in my opinion. I really think that the rest of the EU did not want to see another all England final. Too bad.

[Chesco United]

I'm not a ref, but wow, that was a virtuoso display of incompetence. I was cheering for Barcelona today, but I have no problem with Drogba's postmatch actions. I'm presuming we won't see this gentleman refereeing a big match anytime soon.

[MassachusettsRef]

Could be Anders Frisk all over again.Which implication are you making? That he's going to get death threats or that he's going to retire? I'm guessing the former... and, if so, sadly I think you're right. Things could get ugly for the next couple weeks.


I was cheering for Barcelona today, but I have no problem with Drogba's postmatch actions. Um, wow. I'm not making any excuses for Ovrebo but, no, Drogba (and Ballack's) actions at the end of the game were unacceptable. Quite frankly, him not showing red cards to them might have been two of his many incorrect decisions throughout the night.

[code1390]

Which implication are you making? That he's going to get death threats or that he's going to retire? I'm guessing the former... and, if so, sadly I think you're right. Things could get ugly for the next couple weeks.



Yeah. I meant the threats. I really hope I'm wrong though.

[blackjack]

Um, wow. I'm not making any excuses for Ovrebo but, no, Drogba (and Ballack's) actions at the end of the game were unacceptable. Quite frankly, him not showing red cards to them might have been two of his many incorrect decisions throughout the night.

No. Those actions were in the heat of the game. Of course, with calm heads, no player should ever do that. I know you're one of the most respect referees on this forum, but come on, think of how bad he was and of the emotion the Chelsea players had running through their veins. Law 19 clearly applies. This guy had the worst performance in a big game that any one of us will ever see. FOUR clear penalties. FOUR!!!!

FOUR F*CKING PENALTIESS!!!

They were so clear. Pique especially, but the one on Malouda too, both with Ovrebo five yards away. I am a former ref, and I know that it's a violation of the ethics code to say it, but this was as close to favoritism in a match as any referee could possibly be. An investigation is warranted, not based so much on the fact that he denied the penalties, but based on his positioning when he did so. He was in clear, clear position to call the incidents involving Malouda, Pique, and Eto'o. Clear position. A level-9 could have made those calls.

Look at the Malouda incident. Ovrebo's standing at the corner of the 18. He sees the foul. He sees the foul occur inside the box. It's so incredibly plain to the eye that the foul happens inside the box. Either he did what we're always told never to do, which is to give a DFK outside the area for a light foul within it, or he saw the penalty but didn't want to give it to Chelsea.

He's just lucky to escape with both legs still on his body.

[soccerman8067]

I respectfully disagree! I dont care if there were eight clear penalties, for ballack to act like that and make contact is completely unacceptable. There needs to remain a sense of class and respect from the players.

[Caesar]

Ditto. Trying to balance erronious decisions with other erronious decisions just makes things far worse. Drogba and Ballack's actions were dealt with correctly.

[Rufusabc]

That match set all of us back about 20 years. That is the single biggest match of the year for both teams and to have it marred by someone who lacked the ability to referee was shocking. His body language, his manner was quite unbelievable.

[Ref Flunkie]

Who was the referee?

[Kaza69]

Let me start by saying that I was a 100% neutral observer of the game. With that out there, I think the previous posters need to study the laws of the game again.

Firstly, in the Malouda-Alves incident the referee rightly concluded that the initiation of the foul happened outside of the penalty box. And by following the laws of the game he correctly awarded Chelsea a free-kick just outside the box. Even if the most severe grabbing happened inside the box.

Secondly, in the last incident it is clear from the video that Pique did not play the ball with his hand, but rather that the ball played his hand. Handling is the only foul that still requires intent to be punishable, and Pique clearly did not know where the ball was when it hit is hand.

Having said that, this is the one law that referees and spectators here in the U.S. do not understand. There is a widespread notion that if the player who handles gains an advantage it should be called, but this is neither the law nor the FIFA interpretation of the law.

Thirdly, a penalty could have been awarded to Drogba when Pique briefly grabbed his jersey. However, Pique's actions did not force Drogba's fall to the ground, so we have a situation where Pique committed a foul, and where Drogba simulated to draw a penalty.

If Pique's action was to be punished by a penalty, and a red card for taking away a goalscoring opportunity we would see very few (if any) games at the highest level without multiple send-offs and penalties. I'm not sure we would really like that new world. But I will submit that a penalty definitely could have been called.

Finally, it did not look to me like Abidal caught Anelka, but the TV angles were not conclusive, so I would give the benefit of doubt to the referee who was right behind the play. It might have been a bad call, but no one could say for sure based on the TV footage. And the referee immediately conferred with his AR about whether Abidal was the last defender before he made the decision to send Abidal off.

We can always argue about a referee's decisions based on what we see from many different angles on TV, but we do not know what the referee's actual view was. And we need to know the actual laws of the game to engage in any discussion about his decisions.

[OhRef]

Who was the referee?

Try here

http://www.worldreferee.com/site/match.php?refID=484&matchID=17801

[code1390]

Who was the referee?

Tom Henning Ovrebo

[Caesar]

Tom Henning Ovrebo.