“I believe Chelsea would have preferred the goal to count rather than face a penalty with just ten men for the rest of the game,” said Lubos Michel, the referee in charge at Anfield Tuesday night.
“If my assistant referee had not signalled a goal, I would have given a penalty and sent off goalkeeper Petr Cech.”
The volume of the Anfield crowd cut communications between Michel and Roman Slysco, the linesman who gave the goal.
Michel added: “Roman beeped me to signal the foul by Cech, but I didn’t know that till later.
“It was the noise from the crowd that stopped me hearing it. I have refereed at places like Barcelona, Ibrox, Manchester United and Arsenal. But I’ve never in my life been involved in such an atmosphere. It was incredible.”
“I did not need the signal from Roman, though. I had already seen the foul and played advantage. There was no doubt in Roman’s mind about the goal and he was in the best position to see.”
“I chose him to be part of our team and I trust him. He is a heart surgeon and mistaken decisions are not allowed in his job.”
“There was not even need to confer. He signalled the goal and sprinted back to the half-way line.”