Uefa gag referee Ovrebo

Norwegian reported to be the subject of death threats

Last updated: 7th May 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Uefa gag referee Ovrebo

Ovrebo is confronted by Ballack.

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Referee Tom Henning Ovrebo has revealed Uefa have imposed a gagging order on him from speaking on Chelsea's controversial UEFA Champions League exit to Barcelona.

Barca's progress to the final was overshadowed by the angry reactions of a number of Chelsea players to Ovrebo at the final whistle of the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge.

The Norwegian offical was confronted by John Terry, Michael Ballack and Didier Drogba after ignoring a number of penalty claims from Chelsea during the game.

Ballack appeared to place his hands to Ovrebo after he turned down an appeal from the German in the dying seconds when his shot looked to have struck the arm of Samuel Eto'o.

Drogba, who was substituted in the game, had to be restrained by club stewards as he tried to approach Ovrebo with the Ivorian being booked for his protests.

Ovrebo admitted he had been informed by Uefa not to make any comment on the furore with Europe's governing body expected to look into the actions of the Blues players at the end of the game.

"Because of the circumstances after the match, Uefa has asked us not to comment to the press," Ovrebo told Aftenposten.

When asked if he knew when he could speak about the match, Ovrebo said: "No, I don't know."

Report

Reports suggest Ovrebo was smuggled out of the country by police on Thursday morning after receiving a number of death threats as a result of the controversy.

Uefa have confirmed they will wait for the referees' report before deciding whether any Chelsea players will face disciplinary proceedings.

A Uefa spokesman said: "We will see the report from the referee and match delegate before deciding whether to take any action or not."

Ovrebo was widely criticised by Blues boss Guus Hiddink, but Uefa have refused to comment on the official's performance.

"We never comment on the performance of the referee," added the Uefa spokesman.