Soccer: Controversial referee Tom Henning Ovrebo was understood to have been smuggled out of the country by police today after receiving a number of death threats.

Ovrebo has become the target of a hate campaign after failing to award Chelsea a penalty during their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge.

The Norwegian official turned down four penalty appeals and Chelsea crashed out of the competition when Andres Iniesta scored a 93rd-minute away goal.

Chelsea had been minutes away from a repeat of last year's final against Manchester United when Iniesta struck.

But his strike cancelled out Michael Essien's ninth-minute opener and wrecked Chelsea's dreams of appearing in the final in Rome at the end of May.

After the game, Ovrebo was barracked by the Chelsea players, including Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack, and he was escorted to the tunnel by Chelsea stewards.

Police were said to be so concerned about his safety that they changed his hotel before organising his secret exit from Britain.

Police in Ovrebo's home city of Oslo said they were investigating threats made on the internet.

An Oslo police spokesman said: "We are watching closely what is being posted on the internet. Anything we believe would threaten his personal safety will be taken seriously."

Ovrebo also revealed Uefa have imposed a gagging order on him from commenting on last night’s match.

Ovrebo admitted he had been informed by Uefa not to make any comment on the furore with Europe's governing body expected to look into the actions of the Blues players at the end of the game.

"Because of the circumstances after the match, Uefa has asked us not to comment to the press," said Ovrebo.

When asked if he knew when he could speak about the match, Ovrebo said: "No, I don't know."

Drogba and Ballack could both face disciplinary charges but Uefa will wait for reports from the referee and match delegate before making a decision.

Chelsea could also be charged with failing to control their players after the match official was surrounded at the final whistle.

Barcelona went through to the final after drawing the match 1-1 but Chelsea claimed they should have had up to four penalties.

A Uefa spokesman said: "We will see the report from the referee and match delegate before deciding whether to take any action or not."

Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink and skipper John Terry have both been scathing about the referee but Uefa will not be drawn into any discussion about his performance or suggestions that they did not want another all-English final.

The Uefa spokesman added: "We never comment on the performance of the referee."

Ballack was so incensed by one decision that he ran fully 40 yards protesting alongside the referee and was eventually yellow-carded.

Worse was to come on the final whistle when Drogba, who had been substituted in the second half, appeared from the tunnel to confront the Norwegian.