Juventus defender criticises Chelsea’s unpleasant behaviour
Olof Mellberg thinks the Blues are back to their ref-chasing best
Former Aston Villa defender Olof Mellberg has criticised Chelsea for intimidating the referee throughout their Champions League match against Juventus.
Despite spending seven years in the Premier League, the Swede was apparently shocked to see almost every Chelsea player march towards the officials the second a whistle was blown. Mellberg was also presumably surprised to find John Terry breathing down his neck in the second-half when the referee correctly awarded a penalty in Juventus’ favour. He said:
“Chelsea tried to influence the referee’s decisions throughout the game. Six or seven of their players surrounded him and it was something of a personal attack. In my opinion, it was very unpleasant and anti-sporting behaviour.
“Chiellini’s foul was honest – he tried to get the ball and there was no malice there. He didn’t deserve to be sent off.
“It’s too bad, because this was my first chance to get far in the Champions League. We accept this result but, as I said, I did not like the way Chelsea players behaved.”
6 responses so far
Paul D // March 12, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Whatever happened to “Respect”?
On a clear handball which might even have merited a red card, the Blues were back to the typical Terry, Cole, Lamps, Drogba, Ballack ref abuse.
Very poor.
roman // March 12, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Respect? Went down the plughole when a shot from Drogba clearly crossed the line. Despite the fact that Buffon and all the Juve team knew it they didn’t own up. So Melberg can shut the fuck up.
Mr. Chopper // March 12, 2009 at 5:20 pm
So as soon as the ref makes a mistake, all the rules go out the window? Good going. Good job John “Not Racist” Terry, Ashley “Not Gay” Cole and Frank “Not Fat” Lampard don’t have to live by those rules.
ryan // March 12, 2009 at 5:43 pm
theres a huge difference between letting a bad decision go your way and berating the referee when a decision goes against you. unfortunately this is routine for chelsea.
Carlton Goal // March 12, 2009 at 5:54 pm
roman, how can Chelsea still be complaining about that disallowed goal? You scored about 30 seconds later and that passage of play wouldn’t have occurred if you had already equalised. If you’d gone into half-time 1-0 down as a result of that decision I could understand the complaints but as you scored straight after it had no bearing whatsoever. It wasn’t as if you’d have gone in 2-1 up.
Yeah // March 13, 2009 at 4:14 am
Which team doesn’t do that now?
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