The Chelsea Conspiracy

A fucking disgrace!
- Didier Drogba, 6/5/09

I like the occasional conspiracy theory.

I don't buy into them all the time - I just like reading what people think.

Did you know that Paul McCartney is dead and that the person we all think is the former Beatle is a person used to cover up the real musician who died in a car accident back when The Beatles were on top of the charts?

Or, did you know that the first moon landing being staged?

You can add last night's Champions' League game between Barcelona and Chelsea to the list of conspiracies.

A lot of people are claiming that the referee in last night's game was placed in charge of proceedings to ensure that there won't be an all-English final in Rome later this month.

It's quite the allegation to make but it does have evidence to prove itself.

The ref was absolutely useless last night. There were four key moments in the game where he should have given Chelsea a penalty. None of these incidents resulted in the kick being awarded.

Guus Hiddink - in his post-match interview - was smart enough not to mention he thought there was some sort of corruption going on.

If you read between the lines.

Like I said, I don't buy into many conspiracy theories and I can't be bought into this one. What I will say is - Chelsea got robbed.

The question, though, is who were the thieves?

Was it Barcelona who sneaked the winning goal in after one hundred and eighty-two minutes of total play?

Was it last night's referee?

Was it UEFA themselves?

Was it Chelsea for not making enough of the chances they were given?

So many questions - so many differing answers.