Referee on Jose ‘blacklist’ given semi-final mission

UEFA has handed Frank de Bleeckere the task of refereeing tomorrow’s Champions League match between Barcelona and Real Madrid — an appointment unlikely to go down well with the Madrid manager Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho, who will not be speaking to the press ahead of tomorrow’s match at the Nou Camp, last week accused referees of favouring the Catalan side after his team lost 2-0 to Barca in the first leg of their semi-final at the Bernabeu.

The Portuguese was enraged by the dismissal of the makeshift midfielder Pepe by Wolfgang Stark and afterwards read out a list of officials he believes have made decisions which have benefited Barca in previous years.

The Belgian De Bleeckere was on that list after opting to send off Thiago Motta in the last-four clash last season between Internazionale, then managed by Mourinho, and Barcelona.

Television replays later showed there had been little contact between Motta and Sergio Busquets, with the Spain midfielder even peering through his fingers to see what action the referee was taking as he rolled about on the floor.

“I can’t say what I feel. I only leave one question: Why?” said Mourinho on Wednesday. “Why? Ovrebo, Busacca, Frisk, Stark, De Bleeckere. Why to all these people. Each semi-final always brings the same. We’re talking about a fantastic football team. So why?”

Tom Henning Ovrebo turned down a number of penalty appeals for Chelsea when Barcelona knocked out the London club two years ago, Massimo Busacca harshly sent off Arsenal’s Robin van Persie in the last-16 clash this season, and Anders Frisk dismissed Didier Drogba six years ago as Barca came from behind to beat Mourinho’s Chelsea in a last-16 first leg match.

On the pitch Barcelona missed the chance to move 11 points clear at the Primera Division summit after going down to a surprise 2-1 defeat at Real Sociedad on Saturday.

After title rivals Real Madrid lost earlier in the day, Barca could have moved to the brink of La Liga glory had they picked up all three points.

The result gives Madrid a more realistic chance of overhauling their rivals with just four games remaining, although with eight points to make up their hopes remain slim.

All appeared to be going to plan for Barca when Thiago Alcantara fired the visitors into a 29th-minute lead.

But Diego Ifran forced an equaliser for the hosts on 71 minutes before Javier Mascherano’s foul on Antoine Griezmann paved the way for Sociedad to grab an unlikely win eight minutes from the end.

Xabi Prieto stepped up to take the spot kick, which was hugely unconvincing but somehow found its way past Barca keeper Jose Manuel Pinto.

Earlier, Madrid lost 3-2 to Real Zaragoza.

Angel Lafita was Madrid’s tormentor-in-chief, scoring two of Zaragoza’s goals and winning the penalty that led to Gabi scoring the third.

Madrid had hit back from 2-0 and 3-1 down with goals from Sergio Ramos and Karim Benzema but they could not find a third, and also lost Ricardo Carvalho to a late red card.