Former Chelsea caretaker boss Guus Hiddink says the controversial defeat in the 2009 Champions League semi-finals against Barcelona triggered him 'having conspiracy theories'.
The Blues went out courtesy of Andres Iniesta's stoppage-time away goal at Stamford Bridge on a night where they had numerous penalty appeals turned down by Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.
Many Chelsea fans started to have conspiracy theories about why UEFA did not want a repeat of the 2008 final between Man Utd and Chelsea - with United already in the '09 final - and Dutch coach Hiddink has now told FourFourTwo that he sympathises with supporters given he had similar feelings himself.
'That was a huge disappointment,' Hiddink, who was in his first of two stints as caretaker manager at Chelsea, says.
'We had held a really good Barca team to a 0-0 draw away, then took the lead at home and had chances to score more, but didn't.
'We also had a few penalty appeals for obvious handballs, but the referee waved them off. Some people argued it was fixed. While deep down I don't believe that, perhaps it was the only time I started to doubt it.
'Chelsea and Manchester United had played in the final the year before, and with the Premier League's dominance, I started to have a few conspiracy theories, such as UEFA looking to avoid the same two teams reaching the final again.'
Despite the disappointment, Iniesta's goal led Barca to the final in Rome where they beat United 2-0 - and the veteran coach holds nothing against the Spanish midfielder irrespective of what happened at the other end of the pitch that night.
'Although his goal hurt us, Iniesta was an unbelievable player - I spoke to him many years after in a different context,' Hiddink tells.
'He had scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup Final between Spain and Holland, and several years later he was booed in a friendly between the two countries. By then I was the Dutch manager, and my immediate reaction was to stand up and gesticulate at the crowd to stop it.
'Afterwards, I received a WhatsApp message from Iniesta himself, thanking me for that and for what I said. I just told him that it was a normal thing to do. Those things go beyond football – it's the respect you have for somebody as a human being as well as a player.'