He had also failed to spot two handballs: the first by Gerard Pique and the second by Samuel Eto'o.

The latter infringement came right at the death, just seconds after Andres Iniesta had made it 1-1 on the night - and on aggregate - with a stunning strike that sent eventual champions Barca through to face Manchester United in the Champions League final.

"Players make many mistakes, coaches make mistakes, referees make mistakes - that's why we speak about giving them the benefit of the doubt," Hiddink said in his post-match interview.

"But if you have seen three or four situations waved away, then [Ovrebo's performance] was the worst I have seen.

"The overall feeling is one of being robbed and one of injustice. That's why it was so hot and angry."

It got even worse for Ovrebo, though. So fierce was the immediate backlash, that those responsible for his security decided to move him to another hotel that very night. Then came the death threats.

"When you come into the dressing room after a match like that, you go 'ah Tom Henning, you did not perform at your best today.' As a referee at that level, also in England, you are used to the supporters. You are used to the media. You are prepared to know that you would cause a lot of disturbance in many ways," Ovrebo tells Goal in his Oslo office.

"Other referees like me had similar experiences Urs Meier from Switzerland [England vs Portugal], Anders Frisk from Sweden [also Chelsea vs Barcelona]. You can also mention others, of course. We knew when you have a match like this in this kind of game that you will have some reaction afterwards. In a way we were prepared for that.

"When I look back at my career, I can look at those two, three, four, five per cent of matches that were really shitty or I can look at 95% that were great and I think as a referee and also as a player or coach, you have some ups and downs in your career.

"It is important that you look at your ups and downs and still enjoy the other matches and even enjoy the matches where you didn't perform up to an optimal standard. The special thing about refereeing is that it is a very thin line between heaven and hell.

"If you do a big mistake in a very important game, your career could be finished but if you do a big mistake as a player or a coach in a big game, your career can still continue so in that way it is easier to be a player or a coach than a referee because you know that the consequences if you make a big mistake in your career usually that would be a big scratch in your career."