Scandalously famous arbiter in the past, Tom-Henning Evrebeux gave the first interview for a long time.

Evrebe in the memory of the fans remains one of the most controversial arbiters of the 21st century. In 2009, the Norwegian judge took several shocking decisions at once in the Champions League match between Chelsea and Barcelona.

After the match at Stamford Bridge, which resulted in the British flew out of the tournament (1: 1 after 0-0 at the Camp Nou), Chelsea accused the coaching team that the match was not assigned four penalties to the gate of the guests.

Fans all over the world, even years later, remember Evrebe and his scandalous decisions. So what's going on with this referee now and what does he think about that fight after nine years?.

"First tell me what Mr. Evrebe is doing now?".

- I moved away from judging, although sometimes, when my colleagues need advice, especially psychological ones, I try to help them. But this is not my work.

- Why? Usually, top-level referees continue to work after the end of the judging career.

- I am fine. I work on weekends and now I have a lot of free time. I wanted this.

- Let's get down to business. Remember May 6, 2009. Are you proud of your arbitration on that day?.

- No, of course not. It was not the best day of my career. But this happens with the arbitrators, we can make mistakes. Players and coaches are also mistaken. It happens that at some point there may not be enough qualification, for example. But of course not - I'm not proud of that day.

- Did you reconsider the match?.

- I always reviewed matches and learned from my mistakes. But I'm no longer a referee, so watching this game does not make any sense. Nevertheless, this day haunts me, because from time to time journalists remind me of him. Hand on heart, I tell you - I do not mind discussing that match, it's part of my career.

- Chelsea then required you to fix a penalty in four points. What do you think was your biggest mistake?.

- Toga made several wrong decisions and each evaluates them in his own way. Again, the players and coaches are also mistaken, but with them nothing like this happens. I am proud that I had a long career, I was part of the elite of judges in Europe and was among the best arbitrators in my country. Unfortunately, many people forget about all this and remember me only by that match.

- But it was the semi-finals of the Champions League.

- Yes, it's understandable. It was also a return match. Everyone was shocked. From this point of view, it is understandable why everyone remembers that night at Stamford Bridge.

- Remember the game with the hands of Piquet and Eto'o? One of them was almost in the last minute.

- Yes, of course I remember, my hands were really there. Nevertheless, people are not interested in what I think about this, my decision is important to them. And they disagree with him. Spores can last forever.

- In one of the moments Ballack in a very rude manner tried to prove something to you. Why did not you delete it?.

- After the game, it's easy to say: "Why was such a decision made, and not that?". The main thing is to learn from your mistakes. Then I decided not to remove Ballack, that's all.. It is difficult to explain why such decisions are made on the field, and not others. Perhaps this is due to pressure. Or, perhaps, because Ballack ran from behind, and I did not see it to the end. There are many reasons for each decision.

- Did you feel the pressure?.

- I'm used to it.

- After the match, did you shake hands with the players of Barcelona?.

- I did not talk to any footballer after the game and left the field with dignity and went to the locker room. I remember that it was difficult for us to get to the hotel, because we were persecuted by many disaffected people. At that moment, we had to think only about our own safety. We even had to change several hotels.

- Do you think that many people characterize the refereeing of that match as the most scandalous in the history?.

- May be I do not know. I can not influence the opinions of others. But I would be interested to ask, for example, the fans of Real Madrid, that they thought of me, if such mistakes were made in favor of their team, and not of Barcelona? Nevertheless, I respect the opinion of all people.

- What do you think about the arbitration of Deniz Aitekin in the match between Barcelona and PSG?.

- I read about this, but I did not see the duel. I can not comment, but I know that there were errors. As for my Chelsea-Barcelona match, I agree that I made the wrong decisions, which may have affected the outcome, but that's part of the arbitration. Before us is the task to make a decision in a matter of seconds. And then you reconsider the moment on TV and you think: "My God, I was mistaken at the appointment of a penalty or unjustly removed a football player". This is reality.

- With VAR it would not happen?.

- Of course. If I had the opportunity to use a video replay then I do not think that today, nine years later, we would talk about that game. After all, then I would have made other decisions. Therefore, I believe that now the arbitration is more just. I fully support VAR and am confident in these technologies.

"But you do not consider yourself the main culprit for Chelsea's departure?".

- It depends which side to look at. I was in charge of the decisions that were made and it can be argued that if I had decided otherwise, then Chelsea might have gone to the final. But we will never know it. I made decisions, and they were not the most correct. However, one can not say for sure if Chelsea would have made it to the final if I whistled otherwise.

- Did you receive death threats from Chelsea fans?.

- Yes, there was this. But this is in the past. Somewhere before 2012, this topic was very hot. Then people calmed down. Of course, after the publication of this interview, many fans will remember me again, but now there are no problems with this. People have the right to do what they want. Now I'm happy and I live in Oslo with my family and friends. My mistakes are in the past.

- Is it true that you retired, offended by FIFA for not being appointed to the World Cup 2010? Do you think it was a punishment for that match?.

- After the match between Barcelona and Chelsea, I continued refereeing, but then made the wrong decision about offside in one of the matches. Then I was again pressured. I was already 44, and from 45 you can not judge international matches. After that, I judged only in Norway, but soon got injured and my career came to an end. I retired just because of injury, and not after the decision of FIFA.

- So you did not think about leaving after that match?.

- No, absolutely not. Although I think that after that day I lost respect for many people. Despite this, I continued to judge.

- And you have the courage to admit your mistakes.

- You know, when a football player makes a mistake, then practically nothing happens. In this regard, the errors of the judges differ. Unfortunately, these errors can not be avoided anywhere, and we must accept this. This is my opinion.

Alexander Puzik translated, Football. ua Author: Alexander Puzik.