Sepp Blatter has called for refereeing standards to be improved in the wake of Barcelona's controversial midweek victory over Chelsea. The Blues were unhappy with a number of referee Tom Henning Ovrebo's decisions in the second leg of the semi-final defeat to Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea were on course to secure a place in the UEFA Champions League final against Manchester United prior to Andres Iniesta's last-gasp leveller that put the Catalan giants through on the away goals rule.
Guus Hiddink's players were incensed that a number of penalty decisions went against them and they vented their frustration at Ovrebo at the full-time whistle, despite his decision to send off Barca's Eric Abidal with the home side still in front.
Blatter has not criticised Ovrebo directly, but feels that if referees from all the European countries went full-time then fans might have a little less to complain about.
Improved standards
"I will repeat it, and I have been saying it for 10 years at least, we must improve refereeing," explained Blatter.
"Improving refereeing in professional football means it's time to have professional referees and we should only use professional referees in high level competitions.
"We have professional referees in England, we have professional referees in all sports in France. We have this kind of professionalism in Italy during the season, they are under contract.
"We have had professional referees in Mexico, in Brazil and in Argentina. We don't have it in Germany - in Germany they are paid per match - and I think this is one of the most important things that refereeing is their profession, this is their job.
"There will always be questions if the referee is good or not good but I will say the future of our game is in the hands of the man with the whistle because there is so much at stake, such as in this match."
No comments:
Post a Comment