In a recent feature interview with new signing Timo Werner, the administrator running the Chelsea website took a poorly veiled, yet hilarious dig at Barcelona concerning the infamous Tom Henning Ovrebo officiating disaster in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi final in 2009: comparing the match to a viral crime drama.
When asked to suggest his favourites from the small screen, Werner named the smash-hit La Casa de Papel or Money Heist in English as one of the must-watches in his list.
The show is concerned with a group of nine robbers at the Royal Mint of Spain who attempt to pull off the greatest heist of all time: as the website stated, only second to the heist Barcelona pulled off against the London outfit eleven years back.
Money Heist is a favourite among the rest of the squad too, and it is not the first time that a footballer has spoken highly of the Spanish series: PSG’s Neymar is famously a big fan and even appeared on the show in a blink-and-you-miss cameo.
Set in Spain but also dubbed in English, the crime drama is the second most popular foreign language series on Netflix, consisting of four seasons so far.
The much-maligned 2009 Champions League semi-final
A late Andres Iniesta equalizer in stoppage time broke thousands of Chelsea hearts at Stamford Bridge, adding insult to injury caused by numerous blatant penalty appeals from the team, all of which were turned down.
After the final whistle, Didier Drogba was very vocal and willing to let his feelings be shared on live television: he infamously felt that it was a “——- disgrace”.
The referee on the night, Ovrebo still receives death threats for a very unprecedented refereeing disaster at a big stage, something which the man regrets to be a part of till date.
While Drogba did help in Chelsea finally lifting the holy grail of European football after adventure fraught with danger three years later, defeating Barcelona in the same stage to go to the final: the match would still go down in history as an infamous classic at the highest level between two top European clubs.
Here’s the highlights from one of football’s most disgraceful matches ever –