Frisk accuses Blues of violating his integrity

Chris Maume
Tuesday 07 March 2006 01:00 GMT
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As Chelsea and Barcelona prepared for a reprise of last year's controversial Champions' League tie, the referee in the stormy first leg in Spain, Anders Frisk, said Chelsea "violated his integrity" over the affair.

The Swede sent off Didier Drogba in the first leg and was also accused of meeting the Barça coach, Frank Rijkaard, in the referee's room at half-time in the Nou Camp. Mourinho was banned from the touchline for two games over the affair and he and Chelsea were fined for bringing the game into disrepute, while Frisk retired after receiving death threats.

Of the controversial meeting with Rijkaard, Frisk said: "[I] met Rijkaard, we shook hands, it started a big brawl in the tunnel. Officials from Chelsea did not like to see me talking to the Barcelona trainer. It was like putting a lighter under gasoline."

Of the person who sent him threats through the post, Frisk said: "I still think he violated my integrity by this - and officials from the Chelsea team did."

In tonight's ITV1 documentary, The Truth About Referees, Frisk recalls the events after the first leg in Barcelona last season.

"I will not go into specifics about the threats," he said. "I will just say it was important for me to get the mail, not anyone else.

"I came to the decision that we put a stop to this. I just had the feeling that enough is enough. Just the feeling today that I'm out of being worried about things like this, it's good for me."

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