Tom Henning Ovrebo was still getting death threats from furious Chelsea fans three years after this controversy. It was Wednesday, 6 May, 2009. Chelsea hosted Barcelona in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final clash and went up 1-0 after just nine minutes with a Michael Essien thunderbolt. Despite seizing the early initiative, however, the Blues were never comfortable, and knew just one Barca goal would send them out on the away goals rule. They might have had more breathing space though had it not been for a flurry of mistakes from referee Tom Henning Ovrebo. The Norwegian turned down FOUR penalty appeals from the Blues - some of them stone-wallers - and to add insult to injury, Andres Iniesta equalised for Barca with virtually the last kick of the game to send Chelsea crashing out. Didier Drogba chased after Ovrebo in ugly scenes after the full-time whistle went with a murderous look on his face and the whistle-blower revealed he was still getting death threats three years on from the controversy.
'It has lasted and I get about three to four emails a year. It is not nice but nothing too serious, either. I don't let it upset me or my family. They do not know much about it as I do not show them the emails.'
Though Chelsea have every right to feel aggrieved by that fateful night in May 2009, the reaction from Drogba at full-time was atrocious, with the Ivorian infamously pointing his finger at the ref and yelling: "it's a fucking disgrace" into a TV camera. The striker received a six-game European ban for the incident.
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.
