May 6, 2009: Cheatfest at Stamford Bridge

Ancelotti (left) unable to stop Drogba

May 6, 2009: A UEFA Champions League Semifinal is played at Stamford Bridge in West London. Michael Essien scored for host Chelsea FC in the 9th minute. Chelsea, managed by former AC Milan star player and manager Carlo Ancelotti, still led FC Barcelona, managed by their former star player Pep Guardiola, 1-0 going into stoppage time.

Had that score held, Chelsea would have advanced to the Final, which would have been a rematch of the previous season's Final, where they lost to Manchester United in Moscow.

Chelsea were already known as a team of cheats, especially "diving" for free kicks and penalties. None was worse than Didier Drogba, the forward from the African nation of the Ivory Coast. I was at work (due to the 5-hour time difference between London and the U.S. East Coast), and was following the game on a message board, where someone wrote, "How many times has Drogba been shot in this game? I count four."

But their opponents, FC Barcelona, cheated more than any sports team in the world at the time. And the referee, a Norwegian named Tom Henning Øvrebø, fell for all of it. The Chelsea players believed they should have been awarded 4 penalties during the game. During postgame analysis, the clearly pro-English commentators on Sky Sports 2 (Britain's version of ESPN2) said they were unfairly denied 3.

Barça left back Eric Abidal somehow avoided a red card before he was sent off in the 66th minute, for a soft foul on Nicolas Anelka. In the 82nd minute, there was a handball in the penalty area by Gerard Piqué (the longtime boyfriend of singer Shakira) that Øvrebø did not call. 

And in the 93rd minute, which had been intended as the last minute of stoppage time, Andrés Iniesta scored to make it 1-1. It was Barça's only shot on target in the entire game. Some "best team in the world" they were.

Because of the goal, Barça's celebration of it, and Chelsea's objections to Øvrebø, play continued into a 96th minute. In that minute, there was another Barcelona handball in the box, committed by Samuel Eto'o. Øvrebø awarded Eto'o a yellow card, but he did not award Chelsea a penalty. Granted, there was no guarantee that the penalty would have been converted, but Øvrebø had directedly contradicted the written rule of the sport.

Øvrebø blew his whistle, and it was 1-1 on the night, and 1-1 in the tie overall. Due to the away goals rule in place at the time, Barcelona advanced.

Chelsea were furious. German midfielder Michael Ballack, himself a notorious diver, chased Øvrebø off the pitch in anger. And Drogba, a native French speaker, showed his proficiency in English, as well as a massive hypocrisy: He looked into a camera, and yelled, "It's a disgrace! It's a disgrace! It's a fucking disgrace!" He later received a 6-game suspension within European play for his actions. Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Čech said, "We all remember Didier Drogba's reaction, and he got slammed for it, but what did people expect?"

People expected the rules to be properly followed by the players, and to be properly applied by the officials. In this case, they got neither. But then, fans of both Chelsea and Barcelona had cheered their own players when the rules were violated. So, if this game was a disgrace, then, what should they have expected?

Barcelona went on to defeat Manchester United in the Final, in Rome. They would beat Man United in the 2011 Final as well, at London's Wembley Stadium. Chelsea finally won the Champions League in 2012, becoming the 1st London-based team to do so.

Drogba was such a cheat, he once dove for a penalty, and received it, against Arsenal in a preseason friendly.

Øvrebø refereed his last game in 2012, turning to his other profession full-time: He's a psychologist.

UEFA officially removed the away goal rule from all of its club competitions -- including the Champions League, the Europa League, and the Europa Conference League -- starting with the 2021-22 season. The rule was abolished not because so many people considered it to be unfair, but because it was deemed to discourage home teams from attacking in the first leg.

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May 6, 2009 was a Wednesday. These games were played in Major League Baseball:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3 at the new Yankee Stadium. Joe Girardi brought Phil Coke in to pitch the 10th inning, instead of leaving Mariano Rivera in. In this case, Coke was not it: He gave up a leadoff home run to Carlos Peña. All 3 Yankee runs were driven in by Mark Teixeira, who went 2-for-5. Derek Jeter went 0-for-5.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0 at the new Citi Field. Johan Santana was the winning pitcher. The only run came in the bottom of the 7th, when Fernando Tatís Sr. singled home Carlos Delgado.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Baltimore Orioles were leading the Minnesota Twins, 4-1 at Camden Yards in Baltimore, when the game was called due to rain after 6 innings.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Florida Marlins, 8-6 at Land Shark Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 15-3 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Seattle Mariners, 9-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Houston Astros, 6-3 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the San Francisco Giants, 11-1 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San Diego Padres, 3-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Los Angeles Angels, 13-1 at Angel Stadium (formerly Anaheim Stadium).

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals, 10-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-2 at the Oakland Coliseum.

* And the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader on June 8. The Tigers won the opener, 5-4. The White Sox won the nightcap, 6-1.

American-style football was out of season. There were 2 games in the NBA Playoffs. The Boston Celtics beat the Orlando Magic, 112-94 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now named simply the TD Garden) in Boston. And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Houston Rockets, 111-98 at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant scored 40 points.

There were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the RBC Center (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jussi Jokinen scored the winning goal, 2:48 into overtime. And the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Mellon Arena (as the Civic Arena was then known) in Pittsburgh. Kris Letang scored the winning goal, 11:23 into overtime.