Chelsea have insisted they did nothing wrong to raise the issue of players on yellow cards with Champions League referee Claus Bo Larsen on the morning of their game with Liverpool. Larsen said Chelsea secretary David Barnard raised the matter during a UEFA organisational meeting on Wednesday morning.

A spokesman for Chelsea said: "UEFA organisational meetings are opportunities for all parties to raise valid issues in relation to that day's game. Therefore, it was an appropriate meeting in which to raise the issue of both teams fielding players on yellow cards.

"Chelsea did not raise the issue solely in relation to Chelsea players."

UEFA may now launch an investigation into the matter but much will depend on what Bo Larsen has included in his report, along with the UEFA match delegate's observations.

"I've never experienced anything like this," said Bo Larsen. "When we had a safety meeting on Wednesday morning, a representative from Chelsea said, 'Claus Bo, you should just remember that we have some players who have a yellow card already and we are not so excited if they get one again'."

The organisational meeting is standard procedure and was also attended by Liverpool secretary Ian Sylvester, Barnard, Merseyside Police and the UEFA match delegate.

"We were quite shocked," added Bo Larsen. "I have been to more than 100 safety meetings and this is the first time I experienced such a thing.

"It was while Liverpool and UEFA and other people were there. I responded by saying that if a player does something for a yellow card, he gets a yellow card."