Chelsea 1-1 Barcelona (agg 1-1, Barcelona win on away goals)

Guus Hiddink denounced the performance of Norwegian referee Tom Herring Ovrebo as the worst he has seen in his career and refused to condemn Didier Drogba for the haranguing of the official after the final whistle had sounded on Chelsea's Champions League campaign.

Lamentable Ovrebo ignored two or three blatant penalties for the Blues and the chickens came home to roost when Andres Iniesta plundered the injury time goal which took Barcelona through to the final on away goals.

The Ivorian, beside himself with rage, marched alongside the official as he walked towards the tunnel from the centre circle, his face full of frustration and in-your-face rage.

Nearly a year ago, Drogba was sent off in the final in Moscow after a clash with Man United's Nemanja Vidic and, significantly as it turns out, played no part in the subsequent penalty shoot-out.

The striker was surely one of those players Hiddink said needed to seize what might be one of his last chances to land Europe's biggest club prize and the feeling of it all slipping away clearly showed after the dramatic denouement at Stamford Bridge.

At the back of his mind, Drogba will rue his own miss early in the second half that ought to have made refereeing decisions academic. Nicolas Anelka served up the best opening of the night but Drogba's left foot shot was kept out by the legs of keeper Victor Valdes when the goal was at his mercy.

Chelsea will also reflect on a failure to take advantage of 10 men from the mid-point in the second half when Eric Abidal was sent off – another debatable decision. But it was those penalty shouts that will live in the memory.

“The overall feeling is of being robbed. Of injustice,” Hiddink said.

“That's why it was so hot and angry and I could understand fully the emotion of the players.

“It was the worst [refereeing] I have seen and I can fully understand his [Drogba's] reaction. Full of emotion, full of adrenaline. People say he should be in control but I understand his behaviour after the game and I will protect that.”

Iniesta's goal deep into stoppage time cruelly ended Chelsea's ambition of going to Rome to repair the scars from last year's final.

Irony came from the fact that the scorer of the ninth-minute goal which seemed about to carry the day miscued at the crucial moment to allow Lionel Messi – otherwise kept quiet all night – to lay the ball back for Inesta's strike. At that moment Michael Essien's spectacular left-foot volley in off the underside of the bar must have seemed a long time ago.

Drogba and Chelsea had just cause to feel aggrieved after an incompetent display from the official that will spark some serious talk of conspiracy theories – Uefa's distaste of English dominance in recent years being barely concealed by Michel Platini and his cohorts.

Perhaps the thought of an all-English repeat of last season really was too much to bear.

But it is hard to explain what Hiddink – and all Blues fans - saw as the refusal to award three cast-iron penalties. And that is setting aside a few marginal decisions that could easily have gone Chelsea's way.

Ovrebo bizarrely awarded a free-kick outside the area in the first half when Florent Malouda was clearly impeded inside the box by Danny Alves. And how he could ignore a blatant handball by Gerard Pique when Anelka tried to flick the ball past him was beyond the pale.

Hiddink was also convinced that Samuel Eto'o handled a Michael Ballack cross.

“I am still full of adrenaline and I have to try to calm down,” Hiddink said after the Blues' fourth time semi-final exit in the past six seasons.

“We played a decent game, tactically well. The only thing is we should have decided the game already outside the big worldwide discussions of the penalties.

“We had to or three open chances we should have taken and then we wouldn't have this fuss about not just one penalty. Sometimes you have to give the benefit of the doubt to the referee, but when you have three or four situations waved away then yes, it is an injustice.

“Conspiracy is a very tough word and if there is conspiracy then you have to prove it and I don't want to use that word. But obviously a lot's been said prior to this game about another all-English final.”