Top ref Frisk quits after threats
The referee at the centre of the feud between Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has quit the game after a series of threats.
Anders Frisk, a referee on the international stage for 16 years, claimed he could have put his family in jeopardy if he had carried on with the job.
The 42-year-old said: “The last few weeks have been the worst of my life.
“There have been threats on the phone and via emails and more usually in the post, and they’ve also affected my family.
“It’s not worth continuing when it gets to this. My own and my family’s safety come above everything.
“The threats have escalated in recent weeks after the match between Barcelona and Chelsea.
"Their tone has become much stronger. It’s a real shame and an impossible task to try to beat something like this. In any case it’s a battle I don’t want to fight just because I’m a referee.
“Soon it’s going to become impossible to referee a Champions League match if the clubs can’t accept a defeat or a player being dismissed.”
Mourinho claimed that Frisk and Rijkaard had a conversation at half-time in the referees’ dressing room at the Nou Camp in the first leg of the Champions League clash. Chelsea won the tie over two legs.
UEFA are currently investigating a report about the incident from Chelsea.
Frisk is one of the world’s most famous officials, having taken charge of 132 matches across the globe.
He also took charge of the Euro 2000 final between France and Italy.
However, this season has been a difficult one for the Swede, who found himself at the centre of attention earlier in the Champions League campaign when he was hit on the head by a missile thrown from the crowd during the Champions League clash between Roma and Dynamo Kiev.
Frisk has likened his situation to that of fellow-referee Urs Meier, who found himself at the centre of attention after England were knocked out of Euro 2004 by Portugal.
“It’s the same sort of thing that is happening to me now,” Frisk continued. “Urs decided to continue but I can’t, quite simply I daren’t.
“I have been afraid, because you don’t know what these type of people can do and I have been afraid what these people could do to my children.
“For me football is the biggest sport ever, but sometimes it’s also very insignificant,” he added.
