Uefa chief hints at Fletcher red-card reprieve

Darren Fletcher's Champions League final suspension could be overturned after talks between Sir Alex Ferguson and top Uefa official David Taylor.

Manchester United midfielder Fletcher was dismissed late on in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final win over Arsenal for a professional foul on Cesc Fabregas.

Replays showed Fletcher played the ball but Uefa confirmed yesterday United do not have the right to appeal against the referee's decision.
As things stand Fletcher will sit out the final against Barcelona in Rome on May 27, but Taylor has hinted at a reprieve for the Scotland international.

'I have spoken with Alex Ferguson personally on this - as fate would have it we shared a car after the match,' revealed the Uefa general secretary.

'We were rather thrown together but had an interesting discussion.

'He was very fair about the referee and what had happened but equally he was very disappointed for Darren, as are we all.

'I tried to give Alex as much advice as I could with regards the procedure in these circumstances.

'There is no formal process. But if the club want to write to us with information - such as video evidence - explaining why they think this is a harsh punishment then they can do that.

'The likelihood is that we'd then refer the matter to our disciplinary body.

'They would then look to see if there were any special circumstances to justify any departure from established procedures.

'I must stress there is normally no way these matters can be overturned.'

Fletcher's hopes could hang referee Roberto Rosetti admitting to his apparent error in his match report, but Taylor concedes such an admission may not be enough to reverse the red card.

'The ref may take the view a mistake has been made and include that in his report but that wouldn't be in any way decisive,' he continued.

'It's an entirely discretionary thing, whether or not the committee feels there is reason to intervene.

'That's the position. Strictly speaking there's no appeal process but representation can be made and looked at.'

Chelsea captain Terry defends foul-mouthed Drogba over referee rant

Chelsea captain John Terry has insisted he has no problem with the way Didier Drogba reacted to last night's controversial Champions League defeat to Barcelona.

The Blues were denied a second consecutive appearance in the European Cup final by Andres Iniesta's injury-time goal which earned Barca a 1-1 draw on the night and won the tie on aggregate.

But Chelsea were infuriated that a string of penalty appeals, the last of them after Iniesta's goal, were rejected by referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.
Angry Blues players, including Terry and Drogba, surrounded the Norwegian official at the final whistle and had to be pulled away by team-mates and stewards.

Drogba then broke away to scream 'Are you watching this? It is a f***ing disgrace' down the lens of a television camera.
But, asked to reflect on the controversial scenes, England captain John Terry refused to concede that his team-mate had overreacted, and instead condoned Drogba's actions.

'I am fully behind Didier Drogba for the way he reacted,' Terry said.

'The man wants to win. You can see the passion that he played with during the game and the passion afterwards.

'It is difficult when players are so high on emotions after the game and people were saying in the Sky TV studios that we shouldn't be reacting the way we did.

'That's impossible after having six or seven decisions go against you at home in front of your own fans. I've seen them all and two were clear penalties and you don't get one. How are you supposed to feel?

'If we had been given one of those penalties we would have been cruising at 2-0. We did exactly what the manager asked of us but we are not going through because of a bad refereeing decision.'

And Terry argued Uefa should act to ensure the best referees are always put in charge of the big games, insisting Ovrebo wasn't experienced, or good enough, to be given last night's match.

'It's a shambles really. Players dream of playing in these finals but we can't through bad refereeing,' he added.

'We get a referee who has refereed ten Champions League games in his career and for him to be given the semi-final at Stamford Bridge is not good enough.

'If a referee makes bad decisions, he should face the consequences. If a player makes mistakes time after time, he will be dropped from the team, but referees just keep getting the big games at big stadiums.

'It is down to Uefa to be strong enough and say these are our four best referees and they are going to referee the home and away legs.

'Both sides had experienced players but we just didn't have the referee to go with a big game.

'Not one player made a mistake over the two legs but we come away with a referee making four or five big errors and now we are out of the competition.

'Maybe that referee would have been good enough in the group stages of the Champions League but on a big stage, with a big game and big players, he simply wasn't good enough.'

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Toure backs young Gunners

Kolo Toure maintains Arsenal's youngsters will return stronger after being taught a Champions League lesson at the hands of holders Manchester United.

The Gunners' hopes of reaching the final in Rome were effectively ended after just 11 minutes at Emirates Stadium, where the holders raced into a 3-0 aggregate lead with two early goals.

Toure said: "Nobody was expecting a lot for us this season and we showed great spirit and we are really proud of what we have done.
Manager Arsene Wenger admitted it was one the most disappointing nights of his time in charge of the Gunners, whose last trophy came back in 2005 with the FA Cup.

Arsenal have secured fourth place in the Barclays Premier League following an unbeaten run of 21 matches, but another campaign which promised so much has failed to deliver. However, Toure is in no doubt the young squad will have learnt some important lessons after being exposed by the talent of Cristiano Ronaldo and England forward Wayne Rooney.

"We are not far behind those teams. We want to win and we will try to come back and be strong," declared the Ivory Coast defender.

"The only thing we can do at the minute is to just keep players, and if we can bring some more that would be fantastic.

"The spirit is good and we hope we are going to stick together and fight together again next season."

Toure is now fully focused on his future at Arsenal, having handed in a transfer request during January after a reported training ground bust-up with William Gallas.

"When you win trophies it becomes like a habit for you," he said. "This time we did not win anything, but when we get the first trophy, you will see more from Arsenal."

UEFA rule out Fletcher appeal

Manchester United's hopes of overturning Darren Fletcher's red card have been dashed.

UEFA have confirmed that a protest against a sending off would only be allowed on the basis on mistaken identity - and not on whether the referee had been too harsh.

UEFA head of communications Rob Faulkner told PA Sport: "Manchester United have the right to file a protest within 24 hours of the match however a protest against a caution or sending off is only admissible if the referee's error was to mistake the identity of the player."
The decision means Fletcher will be suspended for the Champions League final in Rome later this month.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had hoped referee Roberto Rosetti would have admitted it was a mistake to give Fletcher a straight red card for a foul on Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas in the box.

"He's one of the most honest players in the game and to miss the final, it's a tragedy," said Ferguson.

"In respect to the referee in this situation he might look at it himself without anyone asking him."

Although the Football Association have moved towards a position where referees regularly rescind red cards, both UEFA and FIFA strictly maintain the rules that match officials' decisions should remain sacrosanct.

A UEFA source added: "It opens Pandora's box if you can challenge every decision. And if you rule that it is not a red card, then you are also saying it is not a penalty, and therefore not a goal, and what do you do then - start changing the results of matches afterwards?"

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger also admitted the red card was "very harsh" after television pictures clearly showed Scottish international Fletcher - a non-playing substitute at last year's final - played the ball.

Last-gasp Barcelona deny Chelsea

Ten-man Barcelona robbed Chelsea of a place in the Champions League final in the cruellest of fashions with a 93rd-minute away goal at Stamford Bridge.

A stunning first-half volley from Michael Essien looked to have earned Chelsea victory and set up a repeat of last year's Champions League final against Manchester United.

But Andres Iniesta beat Petr Cech in the third minute of added time to send the Spanish bench and their fans delirious and leave Guus Hiddink crestfallen.
At the final whistle, Chelsea's players confronted referee Tom Ovrebo, who had waved away at least four penalty appeals during the game.

The scenes descended into anger when Drogba emerged from the tunnel to confront the Norwegian official and was shown a yellow card.

Ovrebo had a poor game and was marshalled down to the tunnel by Chelsea stewards as Drogba continued to complain about his performance.

The Ivorian then vented his fury by shouting "it's a f***ing disgrace" down the lens of a TV camera, and the fall-out from Drogba's behaviour may yet be met by a UEFA investigation.

It had all looked so promising for Chelsea when Essien, who missed six months of the season while he recovered from a serious knee ligament injury, despatched a 20-yard volley beyond the despairing Victor Valdes.

Chelsea's collective desire to reach the final once more was epitomised in the way they took the fire out of Barcelona's early football.

The Catalans, missing their two first-choice centre-backs through injury and suspension, played some neat, fast and accurate football in the first 20 minutes.

It was a perfect example of the beautiful game mastered by coach Pep Guardiola but it lacked the cutting edge in the absence of the injured Thierry Henry.

The Barca attack has shared more than 90 goals between them this season but Chelsea managed to prevent them scoring in 180 minutes of high-tempo football.

That Chelsea scored with their first real attack of the game would have left the Barca coach bitterly disappointed.

Frank Lampard's attempted cross cannoned off Yaya Toure and Essien despatched his volley into the net via the underside of the crossbar.

It sparked Chelsea into life and, for the remainder of the opening half, they bossed the game.

Lampard almost put Drogba through in the 22nd minute but Valdes managed to beat the Ivorian to the ball on the edge of the penalty area.

Barca were rocking now and a catalogue of fouls by Dani Alves was finally punished with a yellow card when he brought down Ashley Cole. It meant the full-back was out of the final.

But Ovrebo waved away penalty appeals from Chelsea when Drogba, a colossus in attack all night, was brought down by Eric Abidal.

The second half promised more drama and it did not disappoint. Drogba missed a gilt-edged chance when Florent Malouda and Anelka put the Ivorian clear in the 52nd minute.

Somehow, Valdes got a foot to his shot to keep Barca's hopes alive.

But the Catalans were in deep trouble in the 65th minute when Abidal brought down the free-running Anelka and, as the last defender, was shown the red card.

Chelsea continued to take the initiative as Barca were reduced to long-range shots.

In the 70th minute, Valdes saved Guardiola's side again when a Lampard shot took a wicked deflection.

But two minutes later Drogba was replaced by Juliano Belletti, much to the crowd's surprise and the Ivorian's clear disapproval.

As the clock ran down, Chelsea continued to pour forward in search of a decisive second to calm the nerves but, although they had made Barcelona look very ordinary, there was a sting in the tail.

Chelsea's heroes had fought for every ball as if their lives depended on it but they allowed Iniesta too much room and, when he beat Cech from 20 yards in the 93rd minute, chaos descended on Stamford Bridge.

But there was still time for more drama when Michael Ballack's goalbound effort seemed to hit a defender's arm only for Ovrebo to wave away more appeals.

Ballack was shown the yellow card for protesting and, when the final whistle sounded, Barca celebrated in unbridled fashion while Chelsea's players began their attacks on Ovrebo.

It was an unsavoury end to Chelsea's European campaign that may yet have further repercussions for the English side.