“It wasn’t my best day, really,” said referee Tom Henning Ovrebo after his performance in Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final against Barcelona in 2009.
Chelsea fans still despise the infamous official, who was the subject of Didier Drogba’s, “Are you watching this? It’s a disgrace. It’s a f*cking disgrace,” tirade into the camera after the full-time whistle.
This came just moments after Michael Ballack chased Ovrebo down the pitch after he failed to award a penalty for a fourth time during the match.
Having drawn the away leg 0-0, Chelsea simply needed to win at Stamford Bridge to progress to their second final in two years.
And they went 1-0 up through Michael Essien’s left-footed volley from 25 yards, which crashed in off the crossbar just to make it even better.
5⃣ Essien stunner vs Barcelona! 🧨#UCL pic.twitter.com/Tuy6Uyw3Ps
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 31, 2021
Ovrebo then went on to wave away three penalty appeals for the hosts before he questionably sent off Eric Abidal for a coming together with Nicolas Anelka outside the box.
Andres Iniesta hit a famous equaliser from the edge of the area in stoppage-time to send Barca through on away goals, but there was still time for Ovrebo to dramatically wave away yet another penalty.
It prompted unsavoury scenes at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea crashed out of the competition.
We’ve taken a look back at each one of Ovrebo’s debatable decisions to see whether he was right or wrong – or mostly how wrong he was.
The Malouda free-kick
To be fair to Ovrebo, this one is explainable. Looking back at the replay, Malouda looks to be outside the box when Dani Alves blocks him off.
The Frenchman of course cleverly falls into the box, but the official races over and points for a free-kick and not a penalty.
If he had given a penalty here there would probably have been uproar coming from the other direction, so it was a lose-lose situation for the official and we will let him off.
When Abidal should have been sent off
The next appeal came from Drogba, who was played into the area and looking to get a shot away as he raced towards Victor Valdes.
Abidal was with him all the way, though, niggling at him and eventually bringing him down just as the Ivorian attempted to pull the trigger.
Ovrebo was having absolutely none of it, though, not even waving away the claims and simply running away as Valdes had collected possession by now.
Perhaps his argument is that…
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