Blues seek red revenge

JOSE MOURINHO has a saying that “revenge exists only for losers” but he may have trouble persuading his players of that as the dust settles on Chelsea’s controversial Champions League defeat against Barcelona.

The tabloid headlines screamed “cheat” and “diver” after Barca’s Argentine midfielder Lionel Messi fell to the floor perhaps a little too easily at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, leading to a red card for Chelsea defender Asier Del Horno after only 37 minutes.

Now the most pressing concern for Mourinho is keeping 11 players on the pitch in the return leg in Spain on March 7, because judging by the attitude of his squad revenge is on their minds whether he likes it or not.

Midfielder Frank Lampard, for instance, says Chelsea’s players are still furious after Del Horno was sent off for a foul on Messi that looked nothing more than yellow card offence.

The Argentine has been branded a cheat and a play-actor by Mourinho and Lampard believes referee Terje Hauge was conned not only by Messi’s antics but also by the way the Barcelona team ran over en masse to the scene of the crime.

“We’re all educated in the ways of the Champions League. When something like this happens and the players get around the ref, it’s something that I’ve seen many times before and I’ll see many times again.

“The fact that it happens at this level of football is disappointing, but it does happen and you have to move on. Your hopes go on the referee to keep a cool head and make the right decision. Whether he did that this time, I don’t know.

“He had a lot of time to think about it and from where I saw it I thought it was a strong yellow card. With the amount of time it went on, with Messi on the floor and Del Horno on the floor, I didn’t expect to see a red. It’s disappointing because it changed the game in a big way.

“The players feel it was just a yellow card and we’re disappointed it was a red. It not only killed the game but put us under a lot of pressure.

“It looked worse than it was. I’ve never seen Del Horno do any crazy tackles since he’s been here so I didn’t expect him to start doing so in such a big game.”

Chelsea midfielder Eidur Gudjohnsen, never one to avoid the press or to feel restricted by convention, was a lot stronger in his appraisal of the situation.

“I read the referee coming out with comments that the managers have to keep a cool head going into a game. Maybe he should have taken his own advice a little bit.

“When I see the replay on television it is nowhere near a sending-off. Unfortunately you can’t help but feel disappointed. When you play big games and big teams, their players know how to react to situations. That is why you need a referee who can withstand big pressure.

“This is a massive game for both teams, both sets of fans and both managers. We all knew the situation last year where we had to play with 10 men out there.

“Again we have had to do the same because of a refereeing decision. Ask anyone who has seen it on the video and they will never say it is not a straight red card. For me it is not even a sending off, it was a minor incident that was blown out of proportion and overshadows what was potentially a great game of football.

“I think the incident just weighs too much in a game like this. If you look at the first 20 minutes, every little nudge, push and shove was given as a foul.

“Messi was all over Arjen Robben 30 seconds before the incident. If he had just given a free-kick like he had been doing for the first 20 minutes, the incident would not have happened, and it would have been 11 versus 11.

“After seeing it on the video, I am even more disappointed because they just clashed together. Messi jumps up and del Horno misses the ball - free-kick, maybe a yellow card.”

However, Lampard insisted: “We’re prepared to go there and give it a good go. We played 10 against 11 for 60 minutes in the first leg. We’ll go there and play 11 against 11 and with a bit of luck and a bit of hard work there’s no reason why we can’t get a result.”