On May 3, 2005, one of the biggest goal-line controversies in the history of European football befell Chelsea. The Blues had been drawn against bitter Premier League rivals Liverpool in the semi-finals of the Champions League and the Reds progressed to their first European cup final in 20 years with a 1-0 win - but it was absolutely scandalous. Luis Garcia opened the scoring for Liverpool inside four minutes and to this day the argument of whether or not it crossed the line rages on. Milan Baros beat Petr Cech to a loose ball deep inside the penalty following a Steven Gerrard lob and, amid all the confusion, Garcia stepped up to bundle the ball goalwards. William Gallas desperately tracked back to make the clearance and, despite getting his foot on the ball to make what looked to have been a goal-line save, Slovakian referee Lubos Michel gave the goal. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho would later claim it had not crossed the line and famously called the incident a "ghost goal" and television replays showed he was right - the ball hadn't crossed the line at all. The Blues threw everything they had at Liverpool to get an equaliser, but the Reds held firm, reached the final against AC Milan, and the rest is, as they say, history.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
