Controversy sends Barcelona into the Champions League Final

It was another hot night for football fans in the Champions League, as Barcelona traveled to Stanford Bridge to face Chelsea in the semifinals of the competition.

The first leg presented quite a huge controversy; and though Barcelona was the home side, the referee just seemed to be in Chelsea’s favor.

The case was different in London yesterday though, and this time, it was the turn of the home crowd to feel anxious.

Chelsea scored the first goal of the game trough an outstanding strike from Michael Essien in the 12th minute; and afterwards, their pressure seemed to be unloaded on their Spanish opponents.

A few minutes later, Alves fouled Malouda around the penalty area. The referee didn’t even think of awarding the Blues a penalty, nevertheless, from a point of view, it appeared like Malouda had one foot in the box, and the other outside.

Surely, one could realize that the referee did make a bad decision which could be a great and unfair advantage for Barcelona.

In any case, the free kick wasn’t too useless – Drogba’s direct shot from the left hand side went just across the face of goal with Victor Valdes making a crucial save.

Barcelona then tried to answer with an equalizer, however, the players were just lacking of ideas in attack. Iniesta kept been fouled by Bosingwa, Alves kept splashing the balls with bad crosses and high shots in the air repeatedly. In all, it was not a bad display from the Spanish League leaders, but Pep Guardiola’s changes in his formation was definitely causing him problems.

Still in the first half, Chelsea should have been awarded another penalty for a harsh tackle on Didier Drogba, but the referee just wasn’t impressed by the complaints.

As both sides kept fighting for a place in the final, the referee kept making things more and more difficult for them with his unjustifiable decisions.

In the second half, Anellka’s dive near the penalty box caught the official’s attention, and Abidal was wrongly sent off. Barcelona was then forced to play with ten players for almost thirty minutes.

Four minutes were added on when Chelsea fans were preparing to celebrate. However, Barcelona didn’t give up, and Messi’s ball in the 94th minute gave Iniesta a chance to shoot high into Cech’s net. The equalizer had given the Catalans a golden ticket to Rome.

Nevertheless, as many thought that the match was going to end with Iniesta’s final kick, the referee decided to give Chelsea a final chance to break away. Indeed, Guus Hiddink’s men went for the attack.

It was a corner around the 96th minute which raised the home crowd’s anger. Ballack’s powerful shot was handled inside the danger zone by Samuel Eto’o, but instead of a penalty, the referee ordered Valdes to take a goal kick.

Eventually, Barcelona reaches the final trough controversy, and as Pep Guardiola enjoys his success, Chelsea fans have reasons to be angry.

Surely, this controversial win is a disgrace to Barcelona, both for the team and their fans, however, one question remains:

“If the referee was on Chelsea’s side, what would their fans feel?”

Nothing tells us that it wouldn’t have been joy, however, in the meantime, the least we can do is to hope that Barcelona will not play in the final with the referee’s favor.

Written by Isaac Asante

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