By Hugh MacDonald

JOHN TERRY backed Didier Drogba after the Ivorian came under fire for his post-match confrontation with referee Tom Henning Ovrebo and a foul-mouthed TV rant following Chelsea's heart-breaking Champions League exit to Barcelona.

The England and Chelsea captain slammed Ovrebo and accused Uefa of making a mistake by appointing him to take charge of the semi-final second leg.

Chelsea looked to have set up a repeat of last year's final against Manchester United when Michael Essien put them in front with a stunning 20-yard volley in the ninth minute.

However, Andres Iniesta lashed a 93rd-minute equaliser beyond Petr Cech with Barca's first shot on target.

The vital away goal put the Catalans in the final in Rome on May 27, but Ovrebo's performance left Terry and his Chelsea team-mates fuming.

The Norwegian had refused to award Chelsea two spot-kicks in the first half when Florent Malouda and Drogba were brought down.

Ovrebo carried on in the second half by rejecting two handball penalty appeals after Gerard Pique handled as Nicolas Anelka tried to go past him and, after Iniesta's leveller, Michael Ballack's shot hit Samuel Eto'o's arm.

Ballack was so incensed he protested alongside the referee for 40 yards before getting a yellow card.

Drogba, who had been substituted in the second half, confronted the official after the game and received a yellow card for his protests, before yelling: "It's a f****** disgrace," at TV cameras.

"I am fully behind Didier Drogba for the way he reacted," declared Terry.

"The man wants to win. You can see the passion that he played with during the game and the passion afterwards.

"It is difficult when players are so high on emotions after the game and people were saying in the Sky TV studios that we shouldn't be reacting the way we did.

"That's impossible after having six or seven decisions go against you at home in front of your own fans.

"I've seen them all and two were clear penalties and you don't get one. How are you supposed to feel?

"It's a shambles really. Players dream of playing in these finals but we can't through bad refereeing.

"We get a referee who has refereed 10 Champions League games in his career and for him to be given the semi-final at Stamford Bridge is not good enough.

"If a referee makes bad decisions, he should face the consequences.

"If a player makes mistakes time after time, he will be dropped from the team, but referees just keep getting the big games at big stadiums.

"It is down to Uefa to be strong enough and say these are our four best referees and they are going to referee the home and away legs'."

The incensed Blues skipper added: "If we had been given one of those penalties we would have been cruising at 2-0.

"We did exactly what the manager asked of us but we are not going through because of a bad refereeing decision.

"Maybe that referee would have been good enough in the group stages of the Champions League but on a big stage, with a big game and big players, he simply wasn't good enough."

Chelsea still have the FA Cup Final against Everton to look forward to on May 30 at Wembley, but Terry says the build-up will be tarnished by the Champions League showdown three days earlier.

"We will be watching that final three days before and thinking we should have been there," he added. Pique's reunion

BARCELONA defender Gerard Pique is relishing the prospect of a Champions League final against his former team after playing his part in the dramatic defeat of Chelsea last night.

Andres Iniesta's last-gasp equaliser sent Barcelona through on away goals and set up a clash in Rome against Manchester United, the club Pique left last summer.

Pique said: "It will be special because I had three good years there. I didn't play a lot but they were important years for me. There are no words to describe how happy we are.

"A team like this, trying to attack, cannot go 180 minutes without scoring. It was in the last minute but it was enough."