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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

UEFA Suspending Didler Drogba And Michael Ballack




According to former Premier League referee Graham Poll, Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack are both likely to receive hefty bans by Uefa after last week's shocking scene at a Champions League clash between Chelsea and Barcelona.

Drogba and Ballack had openly voiced their disapproval of some of referee Tom Henning Ovrebo's match decisions when he had officiated the Chelsea Vs Barcelona match at Stamford Bridge.

"I think there will probably be fairly hefty match bans, maybe eight to 10 for Drogba and five or six for Ballack," Poll told Setanta Sports' Football Matters.

"They will probably get halved on appeal – that's kind of the way Uefa do things... they always know there's an appeal coming so they go heavy and then reduce it down."

A week after the game that turned into a circus, Tom has finally spoken to the press. Earlier, Uefa had prevented Ovrebo from speaking publicly about the game.

"Because of the circumstances after the match, Uefa has asked us not to comment to the press," said Ovrebo, who was given the appointment a standard two days before the match, according to the governing body.

"I won't comment on what has happened since Wednesday," said Ovrebo.

"My focus is now on my coming matches in Norway and the future. But since this happened I have been noticed more in the street and people are pointing."

"Why do I like football? Why shouldn't I? It's always been part of my life since I was seven — I was playing football since that age so it's hard to stop liking it because of one incident."

Ovrebo, a trained pyschologist, was sure that his training in the field of pyschology makes him a great referee. "Of course there's a lot of psychology in refereeing and of course its about man-management, things like this. And it's also important to know of stress-management," the said.


When asked if he would continue to be a referee. "That's hard to tell, but at the moment I'm still very motivated," Tom said.

Is Tom a man out of his depth or is he a mere pawn in a far more sinister plot?