in the aftermath of Chelsea's defeat and all the hypocrisy of cheats like Drogba complaining about the "F**king disgrace"...that none of the pundits seemed to mention that the Barca player should never have been sent off.

Yes, the ref was an utter joke (to both teams) but to me the sight of that charm school graduate, Ballack, running after the referee was far more disgraceful.

The ref awarded the match to Barça by decree. That must be why he reduced them to ten men after a non-existent foul with half an hour still to go.

Continental players are prima donnas who fold at the first sign of adversity. That must be why, 1-0 down and with ten men, Barça kept their cool, kept possession, and kept on believing that the goal would, eventually, come. (The Manchester Utd-Bayern final, anyone?)

Having possession is irrelevant. That must be why the teams that have made it to this year's final are the two with the highest possession stats over the course of this year's competition. Oh, and Spain winning Euro 2008 was a fluke too.

English teams are all about tradition; continental clubs just shallow flash. That must be why one of last night's teams is owned by a Russian oligarch, sponsored by a Korean corporation, managed by a stop-gap flying Dutchman, and populated by a delegation from the United Nations, while the other is owned by its supporters, is sponsored free of charge by a charity, is trained by a bloke who won the European Cup as a player in the same club's shirt, and fields half a dozen starting players who, just like him, came up through the youth system. Oh, and Spain winning Euro 2008 was a fluke too.

La Liga is very weak. That must be why the final has had a Spanish team in it as many times as a Premier League team over the last ten years (now six in both cases). Oh, and Spain winning Euro 2008 was a fluke too.

English teams are all about fair play. That must be why Drogba opted to spend three minutes feigning injury, thereby giving Barcelona the three extra minutes they needed to score the vital goal. It also must explain why Ballack manhandled the ref. And why Drogba fell over every time a defender came within five feet of him. And why he saw fit to tell the world's TV viewers that the result was a "fucking disgrace".

Chelsea were denied at least five stonewall penalties last night. That must be why Eto'o, with his back to the ball, cynically thrust his armpit in the path of a 100-mph shot from Ballack (the rules say handball is "deliberately handling"). Yes, Piqué's was a penalty - and he admitted as much; how often does that happen? - but it was cancelled out by the one on Henry in the first leg.

Víctor Valdés is a dodgy keeper. That must be why he made three reflex saves last night that would have been hailed as brilliant if a Casillas or a Buffon had made them.

Leo Messi is just empty hype who bottles it under pressure. That must be why, finding himself with the ball in the box in the last minute, instead of shooting desperately at a big blue wall - he'd been three-man-marked all night - Messi (at 21, the CL's top scorer this year, and with twice as many goals in all competitions as Cristiano Ronaldo this season) calmly laid the ball off to the better positioned Iniesta. And the rest, as they say....

Still, if you repeat things often enough....

Agree with all of it. Nice one, Barca.

I am alone in extracting great satisfaction from seeing Jamie Redknapp getting worked up because of the Chelsea injustice (probably because Frank was upset)?

The Doves album is obviously album of the year already. Sky Sports have started using Kingdom Of Rust as its football backing music. Last year it was Elbow.

They simply moved the 3 available minutes backwards. A mite picky I know, but the truth nevertheless.

Otherwise I agree completely. English football is an oxymoron these days as 80% of the big clubs playing staffs comprise overseas players.

..made it to the final this year. Both have a reputation for playing a bit with attacking, charismatic , match-winning players of awesome talent. Wanna bet it´ll end 0-0

I hate bloody Neutrals. TV commentators never think about the rabidly partisan fans, like me. They're always thinking whether the Neutral will be enjoying it.

The Chelsea I dislike now bears no relationship to the Chelsea that I disliked in the 1970s. For that kind of consistency, I respect them a great deal. They didn't deserve to win today.

By the way, does anyone else remember when Ray Wilkins was called "Butch" Wilkins? I told someone this today and he thinks I'm making it up.

I would consider him one of the most overated analysts - he never says anything incisive or indeed less than obvious.

As a footballer I cant remember any passes he made that went forward; he was the arch exponent of the sideways pass. When he got sent off for England we started playing better!

Even when watching some south american side on cable on some obscure sports channel I always manage to pick a side even if it's on the basis of their shirt colour or some obscure historical precident. I can enjoy the spectical but have to have some one to cheer. Which makes watching two bogey teams like chelsea and Moan U play each other a problem even "my enemy's enemy" doesn't work in this case.

Look at the clock. Look at the score. Look who's smiling.

A class act.

How long before some aggrieved intellectual publishes online the address, phone number, email address of Mr Ovrebo? Footie fans, eh?

Pot, Kettle, black. They and Real Madrid are as Dodgy as hell. I hate this glorification of them. Scratch the surface and you see the truth. They've had more ref's decisions go there way in the last three seasons than Man Utd,Liverpool and Chelsea together.And there's nothing worse than armchair Barça fans with their Sanctimonious Holier than thou attitude about Pure Football. One shot on target in 94 mins is not Brazil 1970/82.Guardiola is a top bloke though
Fergie will be getting the brasso ready.
One of many examples

by any chance?

But i am ,as Chris guessed,an Espanyol season ticket holder and have been for 13 years. I hate these Sheep who wouldn't know a free-kick from a Freebird but run around pretending to be Barça fans.

But I'm guessing that the only people in the UK (with a few exceptions) wanting Chelsea in the final are Chelsea fans.

As an Australian rules supporter I'd contend this statement would become more accurate by the substitution of soccer/football players for "continental" and deletion of all words after "donnas"

Loved it. Good to see Chelsea so annoyed with the decisions and losing their cool at the end, especially Drogba. Maybe if he had not been such an unlikeable, cheating, diving, petulant cry baby, (and yes l do follow Manchester United and people think that of Ronaldo), he may have got the decisions going for him. Brilliant that he didn't. Hope he gets a long suspension for his antics at the end.

Some of the fuss about the penalties was over the top. Jamie Rednapp sprouting on about the ref coming from Norway is such a narrow minded view, whether he had a good game or not, he is still an experienced referee who has been officiating international matches for over 10 years and has already refereed loads of Champions League games.

Drogba doesn't do himself any favours. When there was a perfectly good tackle against him in the penalty area which the referee got right, he flung himself around like a cat that had been thrown into a bath. The referee sees that sort of cheating and petulance, and may have doubts later on if Drogba is appealing again, (the only time Drogba is appealing).

l am biased and don't like Chelsea, but some of the stuff the Sky panel were coming out with was unbelievable. They are meant to be experts and get paid a lot of money for their views, but handball has to be deliberate, never mind if the ball is heading towards to goal. Anelka may or may not have been clipped, but he definitely clipped himself and went down. Drogba got his shirt pulled but then clipped himself and dived in the opposite direction to which he was being pulled. If he had not tried to elaborate on the foul and dive spectacularly, it would probably been given.

It all serves Chelsea right for trying to cheat their way through the first game, with loads of niggly fouls to prevent Barcelona playing (and Henry should have had a definite penalty in the first game).

Although l think Barcelona are the better team and may prove more difficult for Manchester United to beat in the final, l am more than glad they got through. Think of all the stick Manchester United got a few years ago when Stam and Keane were in the referees face. Ballack and Drogba should have action taken against them. Ballack a short ban, Drogba taken for a one way walk in the woods.

Funniest comedy I've seen in the last 10 years.

Better even than the American Office.

Drogba's post match performance was a virtuoso display fully deserving a Golden Globe.

Laughed so hard I very nearly wet myself.

Being Italian, the Gazzetta Dello Sport should be fairly neutral on the match. I found it surprisingly sympathetic to Chelsea:

http://english.gazzetta.it/Football/Primo_Piano/2009/05/06/chelsea-barce...

...rub people up the wrong way. I have a Barca baseball cap which I bought for no other reason that it was adjustable. Since then I have been abused by Man Utd (and probably again in three weeks) Arsenal and now, no doubt, Chelsea fans.
Actually I bought it to wind up United fans, the other two are just a bonus.

and am therefore delighted that United are through and couldn't care less about Chelsea (it means that United will possibly put out a "weak" side against us in the final fixture of the season just before the CL Final and perhaps with the league under their belt). They won't be resting Fletcher though, will they? Thank goodness that some footballers behave with restraint and dignity in the face of massive disappointment. Hiddink should think hard about defending the histrionics of Drogba and Ballack - and good luck to Lampard and Terry who reacted with Fletcher-like dignity.

Is the Barca worship from the "intelligent" football fans. Reminds me of when Paul Heaton used to cite AC Milan or Barcelona as his favourite team in an attempt to appear sophisticated. Doofus.

I'm not a Chelsea fan at all, being a supporter of the newest punchbag club on the block, Manchester City and it's impossible to deny that Drogba and Ballack's antics were pathetic.

But. The referee was abominable. Truly abominable. Those that claim that none of the incidents merited a penalty are either partisan or truly clueless about football. There were two definite penalties (Drogba's in the first half and the Pique handball).

Yes, there should have been a Barca penalty in the first leg and Abidal should not have been sent off (although he should not have still been on the pitch after his double foul on Drogba in the first half) but the majority of decisions went against Chelsea. That is inarguable.

And to suggest that Barca should have progressed anyway because they had more possession is the argument of someone who doesn't really understand football. Retaining possession is just one aspect of football and Barca are not only excellent at it but they're also brilliant at winning the ball back - I do love watching them. But, over both legs, Chelsea out-thought Barca. Tactically Chelsea were superior and they created the better chances. They deserved to win. It must hurt like hell.

After watching the game last night I told my girlfriend that "I'd hate to be a Chelsea fan right now." She asked, bless her, "Is it worse than being a City fan?"

Last night, for once, it was.

(so do allow for the usual biases). I thought Barca were not very good on the night - their crosses were very poor as if the ball was too light for them. The sending off was a joke, but the first hand ball appeal was legit - the last one was ridiculous. Chelsea seemed to think 1-0 was enough rather than finishing the match off.

Drogba is a man to drive you nuts. On one hand, clearly the best striker in the world when he wants to be (and the scourge of Liverpool), his lack of sportmanship goes beyond even other well known divers. Last night he collapsed on the floor in the box clutching his face after the ball hit his chest - no wonder the referee was unwilling to give a penalty later. I expected him to be booked for simulation. Against us he scored a great goal through strength and persistance, shrugged off Jamie Carragher as if he was not there (not easy), and then collapsed and rolled around on the floor for minutes after brushing against Alonso. I think you can blame his track record for Chelsea not getting a penalty last night - too many referees have been conned, and maybe they are saying "not me". C. Ronaldo was the same for a couple of years, and suffered from referees not giving deserved penalties because of previous dives - I think it has evened out now. For the good of the sport I hope Huudink can tell him just to play the game - he is good enough to win that way.

Using no small amount of devil's advocacy, I'd like to profess my admiration for last night's referee.

Incompetent he may have been, but he was also incredibly brave, refusing to bow to increasing pressure from Chelsea players as the game unravelled, despite what must have been a growing feeling that he might just have got one or two decisions wrong, and at no point did he succumb to the temptation to even things up by awarding one of the penalties. Surely this is the kind of strength of character we want more of from our top refs?

As previously posted, the whole thing was worth it just to see the insufferable Jamie Redknapp try - and utterly fail - to contain his rage and customary my-cousin-and-my-mate JT-play-for Chelsea bias. Best bit was when Gullit eloquently and accurately pointed out how "it is much harder to build a house than to demolish one", and there's Jamie, looking all confused and lost and beaten. He used to be injured all the time when he was a player. How come he never gets a throat strain? What a wonderful night, hats off to Barca, and proof yet again that all the money in the world will never buy you decency and class.

The ref made a bunch of poor decisions.
As you would when you're surrounded by 22 highly-paid professionals who are intent on misleading you.
Barcelona had a man sent off who shouldn't have been sent off.
Chelsea kept a man on the field who should have been sent off.
It was a draw. There is no moral. It doesn't prove anything. As Ed Smith says to me in an interview to be published in the next issue of the magazine, sport is "chaos upon chaos".
I can well understand how hurt Chelsea fans might whinge. Most of them are relative strangers to adversity. What I can't understand is how the massed punditry can line up behind them. From within their privileged goldfish bowl our sporting media increasingly misread the mood of the average British supporter. We don't want the Premiership darlings to win. We want to see the "Big Four" get so close to the big prize that they can taste it - and then watch it turn to wet ashes in their mouths. That's entertainment for the majority of us.
I watched it in the pub. There was one very vocal Spaniard who spent most of the match berating the ref and stoking up in his own sense of grievance. When the Barca goal went in the entire pub, full of Spurs and Gooners, erupted into that delirious hilarity in which we British delight. He couldn't believe it.

To see either Arsenal, Liverpool or Man Utd win it. But not Chelsea. To me they are the ultimate in a rich kids plaything.

Back to the middle is the furthest Drogba has ever covered without falling over. Perhaps he should play in flip-flops. As for Jamie Redknapp, he regularly achieves the remarkable feat of being a tougher listen than his missus.

I'm a Liverpool fan who wanted Barca to go through because they have the better chance of beating Man U.

The ref was poor.

The better side over the two legs went through.

All that money spent over the past few years for a team of old men who can't string two passes together.

Chelsea were negative away and negative at home. They had the opportunity to close the game down in the final hour instead they still allowed ten men all the possession.

They went out because they conceded a late goal when they could have gone on to kill the game.

For me Lampard is the most overated player in this country, he's great when you are two nil up.

How great is the Spanish National team and many of them play abroad (another excuse gone England).

We all hear about how good Torres, Xavi and Villa are.

How good is Iniesta. He was outstanding in both legs.

Poor Chelsea, all that money for aging players and they put in two performances like that.

Poor ref, but a lack of ambition did for them.