Blues consider response to UEFA charges

Chelsea are still considering their response after being accused by UEFA of telling deliberate lies about Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard and referee Anders Frisk.

The Stamford Bridge club could face the ultimate sanction of disqualification from the Champions League.

Chelsea, club manager Jose Mourinho, his assistant Steve Clarke and security official Les Miles were all charged yesterday with bringing the game into disrepute for making “false, wrong and unfounded” allegations that Rijkaard spoke with Frisk in the referee’s dressing room at half-time during the match in the Nou Camp last month.

UEFA say Chelsea’s claims created “a poisoned and negative ambience” in an attempt to influence the second leg.

Gaillard said: “They were basically using lies as a pre-match tactic. They were trying to qualify for the next round by putting pressure on referees and officials through false statements. They were ready to use disloyal methods and, frankly, this is totally and completely unacceptable.”

The club, Mourinho, Clarke and Miles will be able to request personal hearings and, if they wish, to be represented by lawyers at the disciplinary meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, next week.

It is difficult to predict the punishments that could be meted out by the disciplinary committee on March 31 because there has been no similar case in the past.

If disqualification is viewed as too extreme, the charges are still sufficiently serious for Chelsea to expect severe punishment, perhaps in the form of a suspended sentence and lengthy touchline bans for Mourinho, Clarke and Miles.

Chelsea’s written complaint to UEFA about Rijkaard and Frisk has now come back to haunt them.

In their report, Chelsea said Clarke and Miles both witnessed the Barca coach going into the referee’s room at half-time. However, in an article for Portuguese magazine Dez Record, Mourinho said he personally witnessed Rijkaard entering Frisk’s room.

Since receiving the report, UEFA have sent officials back to the Nou Camp to investigate, and an architectural plan of the stadium forms part of the evidence against Chelsea.

Gaillard added: “I can categorically state that this alleged meeting did not happen. There is a clear contradiction in Chelsea’s complaint. They say Clarke and Miles saw the meeting but we know by looking at the architecture that from where they were they could not have seen anything.

“Then Mr Mourinho says in a signed article he says he was the one who saw it. What we do know from the reports from the referee and the venue director is that Mr Mourinho came out of the Chelsea dressing room and shouted in a quite aggressive way at Anders Frisk: ‘Can I also come into your dressing room!”’

The charges are the culmination of an investigation by UEFA into events at the Nou Camp and Chelsea’s subsequent allegations.

Following the match, which Barcelona won 2-1, Mourinho attacked Frisk and called for Pierluigi Collina to referee the second leg. Frisk subsequently announced his retirement following death threats to him and his family from Chelsea extremists.

Mourinho said in Dez Record on February 27: “When I saw Rijkaard entering the referee’s dressing room I couldn’t believe it. When (Didier) Drogba was sent off I didn’t get surprised.

“There is something that tells me that in London the referee will be Collina, the best in the world. A perfect referee with personality and quality.”

The club then sent in a report to UEFA making the allegations that Frisk had met Rijkaard, despite denials by both men and several independent witnesses including the UEFA match delegate.

UEFA had already appointed Collina for the second leg even before Mourinho’s remark, although they had not made it public knowledge, and Chelsea went through to the quarter-finals after winning the second leg 4-2 at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have previously been charged with failing to attend the post-match press conference and appearing late for the second half at the Nou Camp, and these minor offences will be dealt with this Thursday.

Gaillard added that the fact Frisk has since announced his retirement has not influenced the charges.

He said: “The retirement of Anders Frisk is not an issue – we would have pressed the same charges whether or not he retired.”