Chelsea vs Barcelona, May 2009
Barcelona and Chelsea have locked horns in the Champions League on several occasions, but no game between these two side will ever be remembered more than this one. Sadly though, it is for the wrong reasons.
Chelsea restricted Barcelona to a goalless draw at the Nou Camp and with a win at Stamford Bridge, they had a chance to avenge their defeat against Manchester United a year ago in Moscow.
The home side were on top of Barcelona right form the offset and gave an early blow courtesy of a sensational volley from Essien in the 9th minute. What unfolded from there on was beyond believable.
The first incident occurred when Malouda made a lung-bursting run down Chelsea’s left wing with Dani Alves chasing him. Malouda made his way towards the Barcelona box, but Alves started to foul Malouda outside the box and carried it into the box.
According to the official rules, a foul that carries into the box is a penalty and Barcelona were beneficiaries of the same against Manchester City a while ago. The referee, Tom Henning Øvrebø, however, gave a free kick just outside the box.
Things were about to get worse. Frank Lampard found Drogba with a lofted pass into the box and the Ivorian was through on goal inside the box, but Abidal behind him tugged on the Chelsea striker’s kit and then clearly fouled him. Had that foul been given, then Chelsea would have won a penalty and Abidal would have been sent off for a last man tackle.
Another similar incident occurred a while later with Drogba and Yaya Toure involved, but it was least debatable compared to the first one.
A few minutes past the hour mark, the referee had another howler. This time he whistled for a foul on Anelka by Abidal and showed a straight red card to the Frenchman. Replays showed that Anelka had dived, but Anelka should have been sent off long back in the first half.
The worst decision of the match was yet to come. Towards the end of the game, Pique clearly handled Anelka’s shot inside the box, but the referee ignored yet another penalty claim from Chelsea. After the game, Pique even admitted that the ball had hit his hand.
The game went to added time of the second half and out of nowhere Iniesta scored a sensational goal and it was also Barcelona’s only shot on target in the whole game.
In the dying seconds of the game Chelsea also had a debatable handball appeal in the box turned down. The refereeing clearly agitated the Chelsea players and among those players who confronted him angrily were Drogba, Ballack and Terry.
