Referee Terje Hauge: Justified sending off of Del Horno

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Referee Terje Hauge: Justified sending off of Del Horno

sven

23rd February 2006

Referee Terje Hauge insists he was right to send off Chelsea full-back Asier del Horno in their Champions League home defeat to Barcelona.

The Spanish international and ex-Bilbao defender was shown a straight red card for a vicious foul on Lionel Messi in the 39th minute, a decision which Blues boss Jose Mourinho claims cost his side the game. But Hauge believes the incident looks less clear-cut when displayed in slow-motion replays and told Catalan television station TV3:

"I feel it is important to see the situation live. When you see it in slow motion, you can be fooled by how he got into the situation”

While we're on the subject, Hauge could have also awarded two penalties to Barcelona while Chelsea will feel Carles Puyol was lucky to escape a second yellow card after a bad tackle on Arjen Robben.