The inside view on Chelsea referee row

After leaving the pitch the tunnel leads to a set of stairs at the top of which is a glass partition. Turn left and you head towards a door to the away team's dressing room. Turn right and you go towards the Barcelona dressing room. If you go straight on you are taken through a glass partition which takes you to a room through which you can access the referee's changing room. It is possible to access the area behind the glass partition from both changing rooms and it would appear that it is here that the events unfolded.

Chelsea claim that rather than taking a right to go the quickest way to the home dressing room, Rijkaard chose to walk on through the glass partition and into a zone which players and coaching staff should not access on Champions League nights. It is claimed he had a five-minute conversation with Frisk inside the referee's dressing room while Clarke and Miles watched.

Rijkaard can also enter the home team dressing room from behind the glass doors. What is clear is that the Chelsea onlookers would be able to see what happened in this area from their own changing facilities as it also has a door which leads to this room. They would also be able to witness events from the "correct"-side of the partition. This would appear to put a different light on comments made by UEFA's director of communications William Gaillard which claimed Clarke and Miles could not have seen what they allege.

It will be a major part of Chelsea's defence as they face a series of disciplinary charges relating to the stormy 2-1 defeat.

The club, Mourinho, Clarke and Miles all face fines and touchline bans for "disseminating" lies about Frisk and Rijkaard's meeting ahead of the second leg, which saw Chelsea overturn their deficit and book their place in the quarter-finals.

Neither side will be able to rely on CCTV evidence. There are cameras in the tunnel but they only view the tunnel area and not the room past the glass partition.

In addition, Chelsea face minor charges relating to failing to attend a post-match press conference and for taking to the field late after half-time. In the last few days Mourinho appears to be following a more conciliatory line and, here in Barcelona at least, has been looking to play down the events.

An explanation for his arrogance at the Nou Camp can be explained in that he felt he needed to prove himself after moving on from being a translator at Barca under Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal.

This week Mourinho has spoken in the Spanish press clearly trying to build bridges and he even tried his hand at modesty.

He gave an interview to La Vanguardia, a Catalan newspaper, in which he tried to express his new-found humility, especially with regard to Rijkaard.

He told the newspaper: "I know football and that when people work passionately as I do the emotional acts will take place. At the moment my wife is calm as are my children because they have been educated this way.

"Their father is not the best trainer in the world but the best father. I am not the best trainer, I was the best in 2004 and I will try and do what I can to be the best in 2005.

"My only message to the fans of Barca is that I will always be one of them for the years that I have lived and worked there. During four hours of play we both wanted to win, I have now forgotten all that happened."

Mourinho was also quoted again attacking UEFA's allegations that Chelsea lied as a prematch tactic. But the club distanced themselves from those remarks yesterday claiming he never said them.

But at the weekend he said: "Of course I am not perfect but my staff have told me what happened and I use what they tell me as the truth because I cannot work without trust."

That trust will face a severe examination today.