Johan Cruyff believes that his former club, Barcelona, deserved to book their ticket to Rome for the Champions League final after a 1-1 draw at Chelsea in the second leg of the semi-finals saw them advance on the away-goals rule.
The Dutchman, however, readily admitted that the Blaugrana didn’t have the best of matches at Stamford Bridge and although he panned the two referees who were appointed over both legs, he believed Chelsea only had themselves to blame for their elimination.
“As a coach, we tend not to talk about referees and even when we do, it serves no purpose. But now, as an observer from the outside, I can say that both referees in the semi-finals have been two of the worst, for different reasons,” he wrote in his regular column in El Periodico.
“Henning Ovrebo last night was just as bad as Wolfgang Stark at the Camp Nou. The Norwegian expelled [Eric] Abidal unjustly, he didn’t see the [Gerard] Pique penalty, and he missed a few other half-calls for a penalty as well.
“It is clear that a semi-final of this intensity and passion did not deserve two referees like that. They did badly. They were just bad, period.”
Cruyff then acknowledged that Blues manager Guus Hiddink had little choice but to replicate his first-leg strategy and play defensive football against Barca again. But this time, his caginess costs the Londoners.
He said, “Hiddink is not someone who’s in favour of this style of play, but he was aware that it was the only option against a Barca side who were technically superior.
“It was the strategy he used at the Camp Nou and he did it again at home, but it was precisely that over-conservatism which killed Chelsea.
“Yes, it’s true that they had more chances than Barca but they were still playing defensively when they had 11 players against 10. They took out [Didier] Drogba instead of finishing off the tie because they thought the game had been won, or that there was no longer any danger. They were mistaken.
“If you look over the entire 180 minutes, you will realise that the team who will travel to Rome are the only team who tried to play football and who did enough to be granted this dream opportunity.”
