[Mighty T.A.L.]

Rafa Benitez accuses Didier Drogba of diving

The Spaniard voices anger at the antics of Chelsea’s striker and hopes it won’t happen again on Wednesday.

RAFAEL BENITEZ has added extra spice to the midweek game between Liverpool and Chelsea by suggesting Didier Drogba is a diver. Ahead of the Champions League semi-final second leg on Wednesday, Benitez called for a strong referee to be appointed to curb the antics of the striker.

The Liverpool manager was furious about Drogba’s behaviour in the first leg at Anfield on Tuesday and said he was “really disappointed” at the sympathetic view taken of Drogba’s regular falls by referee Konrad Plautz.

“He is amazing because he is massive (and yet goes down). It is very impressive,” Benitez said caustically. “With Drogba it is important to have a good referee. You can’t do anything (to stop him going down) but I will say it because it was so clear.

“Drogba was given seven fouls and Fernando Torres three. Torres has bruises all around the body. So from the first minute I was disappointed by the referee.”

Uefa do not reveal the identity of referees for Champions League matches until 48 hours before they are played, but Benitez said he hoped an official for the game at Stamford Bridge will be from a European country with a big league, unlike Austrian Plautz.

He felt Plautz’s willingness to keep blowing for free kicks whenever Drogba hit the turf contributed to the five minutes of stoppage time during which Chelsea scored their crucial away goal in the 1-1 draw.

Benitez is so vexed by Drogba that he revealed he possesses a “lowlights” video, featuring what he feels are instances of the striker play-acting dating going back several seasons. “I have a lot of clips about him,” the Spaniard said. “We played against Chelsea 19 times since I came to Liverpool and every time I have collected clips. I have shown them to some of the players. I think that (Martin) Skrtel and Carra (Jamie Carragher) were really good against him.”

Benitez’s remarks are sure to deepen the antipathy between Chelsea and Liverpool since he took charge in 2004, his arrival coinciding with Jose Mourinho’s at Stamford Bridge. They had a testy relationship, but with Mourinho gone the build-up to the teams’ past three meetings was free of controversy. John Terry, the Chelsea captain, has fanned the flames, though, by using his programme notes yesterday to accuse Liverpool supporters of “disgusting” chants at Anfield.

The Times