There is this indefinable element in football called luck and that was what propelled Barcelona to qualify for the European Champions’ cup final at the expense of Chelsea.

True I had predicted a victory for the Spanish ball jugglers but I never anticipated they will so lucky to receive such immense sympathy from Norwegian referee Tom Ovrebo who ignored at least three penalty awards against them. This was luck at its best and a colleague’s theory is that either the referee intends buying shares in Barcelona or he hates the idea of two English teams qualifying for the final twice in a row.

I am convinced that on the evidence of the form showed by Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, they would need another big slice of luck to take the title away from Manchester United in Rome on May 27, 2009.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Chelsea fans for their sportsmanship in containing the provocative behaviour of the Norwegian official. This should be a lesson to those of us from this part of the world and begin to appreciate the fact that despite everything, football still remains a game and we need not lose lives because of a referee’s blunders and turn football arenas into cemeteries.

The violent attitude of Didier Drogba towards the referee after the match is a pointer to the sort of crowd reaction we would have experienced if the match had been played in his part of the world. At this time and age let all lovers of sport learn to be sporting even in the face of extreme provocation and naked robbery by a match official.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.