Thursday, May 7, 2009

Drogba 'deserves to be punished'

Didier Drogba
Didier Drogba hounded referee Ovrebo after the final whistle

Didier Drogba should be punished for confronting the referee following Chelsea's Champions League exit, says players' union boss Gordon Taylor.

The striker launched a verbal assault on Tom Henning Ovrebo after Barcelona reached the final at Chelsea's expense.

Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Taylor told BBC Radio 5 Live: "It is not acceptable.

"It will have to be punished [by Uefa]. But having been a player, you knew where Drogba was coming from."

After the 1-1 semi-final second-leg draw at Stamford Bridge, Drogba ran on to the pitch to confront Ovrebo at the final whistle and was booked.

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Phil McNulty

The Ivory Coast international, 31, then shouted and swore into TV cameras, prompting broadcaster Sky Sports to issue an apology.

Drogba, who had been substituted after 72 minutes, also had to be restrained as Norway's Ovrebo went down the tunnel.

A Uefa spokesman said: "We will see the report from the referee and match delegate before deciding whether to take any action."

Taylor said the reaction of Drogba and other Chelsea players, after Ovrebo had turned down several penalty appeals by the hosts, was understandable.

And he claimed Chelsea staff could perhaps have done more to defuse the situation.

"You could see there were going to be problems at the end of the game and that's why stewards and security should have been very careful to make sure that no-one got near the referee," he said.

Chelsea were unavailable for comment on their post-match security arrangements.

Taylor added that the controversy over Ovrebo's performance, which also saw him controversially send off Barca's Eric Abidal, underlined the need to use video technology to aid match officials.

"It is too much pressure on the referee," he claimed.

"I don't understand why they don't make use of technology to make sure decisions are right. It is used in other sports and used well."

Blues captain John Terry, who also strongly remonstrated with Ovrebo, defended the reactions of the Chelsea players and Drogba in particular.

"I am fully behind Didier for the way he reacted," declared Terry. "The man wants to win. You can see the passion that he played with during the game and the passion afterwards.

"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."

The central defender also condemned the decision to select Ovrebo for such a high-profile tie.

Meanwhile, defender Jose Bosingwa issued a statement on Thursday to retract comments made in a Portuguese TV interview in which he described Ovrebo as a "thief".

Bosingwa said: "We were all very disappointed and frustrated after the game, but I regret describing the referee as a thief.

"Having had some time to reflect, I would like to withdraw those comments."

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