It took quite some time for Guus Hiddink to emerge from the Chelsea dressing room to give his verdict on heartbreaking European elimination.
The reason was he had prepared first by watching key incidents in the match all over again, as dispassionately as possible, before facing questions. He even clutched a DVD of the action as if to emphasise the point.
That was important, because in the cold light of night and in front of the world's media, the highly-experienced coach was in no doubt refereeing decisions had cost his team dearly.
'Players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes, the referee can make mistakes,' Hiddink began. 'And that is why we give them the benefit of the doubt sometimes. That is all in the game.
'But if you have seen three or four situations waved away, then it is the worst I have seen.'
The denying of a multitude of penalty appeals by Chelsea, already 1-0 up due to Michael Essien's eighth-minute stunner, will remind older Chelsea fans of a home FA Cup tie against Millwall 14 seasons ago when referee Martin Bodenham turned down three absolute clear-cut shouts and the Blues went out.
The stage this time was a whole lot bigger and the opposition could not have been more contrasting, but the feeling of injustice was the same. Norwegian Tom Henning Øvrebø was the official at the centre of it all.
'You have sometimes to give the benefit of doubt to the referee,' continued Hiddink, 'because you can discuss whether there was a penalty when Drogba had his shirt pulled in the first-half but you can also discuss last week whether Henry was pulled on his shirt in the area. But if you have three or four situations?
'In the first half you see it with Malouda, clearly pulled over in the area. The ref had a perfect view. Then you see waved away the two handball situations when the arms were going up. We got a penalty against us away to Juventus when Belletti went up with arms high in the wall. After when I saw that I said yes, it was a penalty.
'It was a similar situation today with Anelka's ball when the hand was lifted by Piqué. You cannot draw back your hand in that situation. And the second one when the shot came from Ballack and Eto'o lifted his arm.'
Though frustrated, the Dutchman refused to be drawn into suggestions of a conspiracy by some who may not wish for a repeat of last year's Champions League Final.
'I don't want to go with those tough words because then I would have to prove it. That is difficult to do.'
He was however willing to defend the actions of previously-substituted Drogba who returned to the pitch after the final whistle to leave the ref in no doubt as to his view of the crucial calls.
'I can understand fully his reaction, full of emotion, full of adrenalin. People say you should be in control. He was in control. The moment a player is full of emotion and starts hitting, he is going beyond where he should go. I fully understand his behaviour and I will protect that.'
'I can understand that Chelsea can be disappointed by the performance of the referee,' said Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. 'They say a lot of penalties is possible but I didn't see.
'We didn't create so much. I expected Chelsea to come a little bit more for us but they didn't so it was difficult to create many chances. It is difficult to play Chelsea 11 against 11 so you can imagine 10 against 10,' he added with reference to the second-half red card for defender Eric Abidal.
Robbed was the overall mood in the dressing room following Andrés Iniesta's stoppage time tie-decider Hiddink reported, although there was also some regret over the Chelsea players' own actions in the match.
'We played a very decent game and we did tactically well. The only thing is we should have decided the game already outside of the big worldwide discussion over the penalties.
'At this level it is very difficult and there were two or three open chances we should have taken. Then we wouldn't have this fuss about penalties.'
RAGE ... Ballack lets off steam
The Blues skipper blasted Norwegian Tom Henning Ovrebo, who denied the Blues FOUR penalties against Barcelona.
The Spanish outfit then went through to the May 27 final in Rome on the away goals rule as Andres Iniesta’s 93rd-minute strike cancelled out Michael Essien’s opener.
While Chelsea’s players stopped short of saying they were victims of a conspiracy, the feeling was UEFA did not want two English teams in their showpiece final for a second straight year.
Terry said: “Over two legs they played well but the fact is that, in this game, we had six or seven penalty claims waved away and that is astonishing.
“Anywhere else, anywhere else in the world that would not happen.
“You can see he might not have given the first one, but come the second where Nicolas Anelka puts it round Pique and he slams it down with his hand?
“It’s decisions like that which are wrong — Darren Fletcher misses the final after being sent off for Manchester United on Tuesday, a bad decision. He can’t play in the final and neither can we, because of a bad decision in this match.”
England captain Terry refused to go as far as to say that there was a UEFA conspiracy to deny a repeat of last year’s United v Chelsea final.
But he was severely critical of the governing body for appointing such an inexperienced referee.
He said: “The word conspiracy is maybe the wrong one. It’s difficult when players are so high on emotion after a game.
“However, people are saying we shouldn’t have reacted the way we did. But the fact is, six decisions went against us in front of 40,000 people. And for the ref to not give one of them is unusual.
“I’ve seen all of them and for the ref to not give at least two...
“So it’s not surprising for us to come off the field and show that emotion.
“Why did we get a referee who has officiated in 10 games in the Champions League in his career?
“To be given the Champions League semi-final, that’s not good enough.”
Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink was also furious. He said: “If you’ve seen the three or four situations waved away, this is the worst refereeing performance I’ve ever seen.
“You can never prove UEFA didn’t want an all-English final. It’s just... out of emotion. Five or six situations — not just one. The Malouda situation, he was grabbed inside the box.
“It’s not just one doubtful situation as the Thierry Henry situation was in Barcelona, it’s three, four.
“But we should have scored ourselves, whether some people don’t want an all-English final again.
“Conspiracy is a very tough word and you have to prove it. I don’t want to go with that tough word.
“It was said in the build-up that it would be nice to have a repetition of last year’s final. But I can only say what I see.
“I cannot say if UEFA would not like another all-English final.
“What I’m sure about, in big games like this, is that you need top-notch referees who have lots of experience of refereeing in the big leagues in Italy, Spain, England and Germany.”
Didier Drogba faces a UEFA inquiry after his outburst against the referee after the final whistle.
The striker, who had been subbed, raced on to the pitch at the end and aimed a vicious tirade at the ref before having another go at him in the tunnel. Sky TV had to apologise for Drogba’s language — and the Ivory Coast hitman now faces a huge ban. But Terry defended his team-mate saying his argument was justified in the circumstances.
He said: “I’m fully behind Didier, the way he reacted. You can see the passion he played with in the game and afterwards.
“But the fact is the referee is the one who should face the consequences, not Didier and not us.
“We did exactly what we needed to do to beat Barcelona and we’ve every right to expect referees to do the right thing in these top games.
“You can’t say that enough. The referee made bad decisions and that’s what happens with inexperienced refs.
“Players come into these games hoping and praying they don’t make mistakes but referees are the same — only they get away with it.
“He makes mistakes, but he knows next time he will get away with it. But a player who makes mistakes time after time knows he will be dropped.
“Refs keep getting the big games. When it gets to this stage, it’s down to UEFA to be strong enough and give the big games to their best referees.
“You need experienced refs to look after experienced players in these ties and we didn’t get the referee we needed to do that.
“You see the United game and what happened to Fletcher. It was a bad decision and we suffered the same again tonight.”
Chelsea's Jose Bosingwa: Referee Was Bought
The right-back lashed out at the match official following the highly controversial scenes in London on Wednesday night...
The Blues, who are out of the competition on away-goals rule, are very critical of Tom Henning Ovrebo as they feel the referee failed to signal what they describe as clear penalties.
After the game, striker Didier Drogba could not control his emotions and called Ovrebo a "disgrace", and Bosingwa has now echoed the Ivorian's frustration.
"This referee was bought. I do not know if he is a referee or a thief. There are no words to describe the person that was on the pitch here," he told RTP after the game.
"We are all sad, but we have to raise our heads high again. There is nothing to say about Barcelona's goal, but there were penalties that were not awarded."
On the performance of the man in charge of the game, the Portugal international added, "The way he refereed the match was not the most correct one. He should never referee again."
Chelsea suspect anti-English agenda
Wednesday, 6 May 2009 23:11Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink said it would be impossible to prove claims UEFA did not want an all-English Champions League final.
The London side were furious about a number of what they saw as clear penalties which were not given by referee Tom Ovrebo as Barcelona progressed on away goals thanks to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge achieved with an injury-time leveller by Andres Iniesta.
According to Sky Sports, some of the Chelsea players were speculating afterwards that UEFA wanted to avoid a repeat of last year's all-Premier League final.
Asked about it on Sky Sports 2, Hiddink said: 'You can never prove this but it's just sad and it's out of emotion but if you see five, six situations, not just one...'
Chelsea dominated the semi-final second leg and seemed to destined to seal a date with Manchester United for the second year running after Michael Essien's wonder strike, particularly when Eric Abidal was dismissed for a challenge on Nicolas Anelka.
But the referee denied Chelsea a number of spot-kicks for perceived offences including a shirt pull on Didier Drogba and handballs by Gerard Pique and Samuel Eto'o.
Hiddink said: 'We are so disappointed because there are two issues. One is that we could have and should have scored in some open situations and because we talk a lot about the not given penalties.
'Didier's shirt-pulling is okay, we had [Thierry] Henry's situation in Barcelona, okay. But there were three other situations that were so clear. I shall not say what we really feel but it's injustice.
'It's not just that you can be mistaken. It's difficult, for instance, for the red card of Abidal on Anelka - difficult because, I think, Anelka was through, he touched with his left leg Anelka.
'You can discuss these situations for a referee.
'But if you have seen clearly and he was five yards [away], if you have seen clearly the ball on Pique... If he was blocked there is also an assistant referee.
'There's one I think with the shot on Eto'o and he's turning around and you have to have your arms down. Those two situations make you think.'
He continued: 'The [Florent] Malouda situation in the first half when they were struggling a bit. They go in the box, [the referee] had a perfect view, and he was grabbed inside the box. That's also a penalty, which means there were three, four clear situations, not just one doubtful as the Henry situation was in Barcelona, let's be honest.
'Nevertheless, we should have scored in other situations as well. Whether people don't like an all-English final or not, we should have scored also.'
There were ugly scenes in stoppage time and at the final whistle as players including Michael Ballack and Drogba confronted the referee.
But Hiddink vowed to stand by his players, telling Sky Sports 2: 'I can fully understand in the emotion of the game, as long as they don't touch him, I can fully understand this disappointment.
'It's not just one decision in doubt but it's several not made decisions.
'I can fully understand and I protect my players for this when they have this emotion, just with loads of energy and adrenaline in their bodies.'
The referee was wrong
Chelsea might have had at least four penalties. One would have been enough.
There was a trip, a body check and two handballs, including the late appeal from Michael Ballack deep in added time.
In any game, on any other night, any of at least three appeals would have been given, and Chelsea can feel justifiably hard done by, even enraged, at the injustice. 
Four penalty appeals and a funeral: Florent Malouda is held back by Daniel Alves
Despite that, their behaviour in the closing stages and after the final whistle was unacceptable.
Chelsea's players will regret their antics towards the referee, especially Ballack, whose aggressive chasing on the pitch of the official may lead to a rebuke from UEFA. Didier Drogba also went wild after the game and was screaming into the cameras.
He was booked and will also find himself with explaining to do.
UEFA will not accept such behaviour in a showpiece game. Some Chelsea players seemed to lose control.
Norwegian official Tom Henning Ovrebo, who did not have the best of games, will send through his report and UEFA will react accordingly.
Expect some bans that will run into next season.
A string of missed penalties: Chelsea striker Didier Drogba goes down under
Yaya Toure’s challenge
It was a bad end to a miserable night which should have seen Chelsea heading for Rome.
They had some good fortune when Eric Abidal was caught out by Nicolas Anelka's acceleration on the blind side and, although it looked as though the striker had been tripped by his France team-mate, replays suggested otherwise.
Three and easy: The referee has a clear sight of Gerard Pique's handball from Nicolas Anelka’s flick - but fails to award a decisive penalty kick
Yaya Toure might have got round on the cover, too, also raising questions as to whether Abidal was the last man.
Abidal - like Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher - will miss the final after his red card. Daniel Alves collected a yellow and he, too, will be banned after his second such offence.
Four and out: Michael Ballack’s late shot is blocked by the arm of Samuel Eto’o
Chelsea's Alex would also have been suspended, although that doesn't matter now.
Chelsea are out and, before Drogba blames the official too much, he might remember the chance he missed at 1-0.
Everyone makes mistakes.
Guus Hiddink Backs Chelsea's Furious Players After Barcelona 'Injustice'
Guus was far from pleased after Chelsea's dramatic Champions League tumble...
Michael Essien's early goal looked to be taking the west London side to the Champions League final until the death, when the Spanish side, by then reduced to ten men, found a late away goal.
However, the real talking points of the game were the four or so penalty appeals which Hiddink's troops saw waved away by Norweigian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.
Didier Drogba described the outcome on camera at full-time as "a ******* disgrace." His gaffer didn't go that far, but he was nevertheless far from impressed.
"I'm still very disappointed," Hiddink said to Sky Sports after spending a long time with his players. "It's not easy to analyse the game when the adrenaline is running.
"Regarding the appeals, I won't say what we really feel, but it's an injustice. [Gerard] Pique and [Samuel] Eto'o shouldn't have had their arms up.
"It's sad to see. There's situations like Drogba, who was having his shirt pulled, and Malouda, who was grabbed inside the box [by Dani Alves allegedly]. It's also a penalty.
"It's not just one doubtful call. Ask the people who put the referee in charge of this game [about it]."
Chelsea did have other chances, though, and Barcelona's Eric Abidal was sent off, despite making minimal contact as he chased Nicolas Anelka.
"The red card? It was difficult," Hiddink admitted.
"We should have scored from open situations, too."
Ending with a word about the furious conduct of the likes of Drogba and Michael Ballack at the end of the contest, the Dutchman added, "I can fully understand [their reaction] in the emotion of the game. I thank my players for this emotion."
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