Arsenal captain Thierry Henry consoles goalkeeper Jens Lehmann (left) after he was sent off during the Champions League final in Paris on Wednesday. (AFP)

Champions League final referee Terje Hauge has said he may have acted hastily in sending off Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann against Barcelona in Paris.

Lehmann was dismissed after 18 minutes following a challenge on Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’ just outside the area. The loose ball fell to Ludovic Giuly, who slotted it into an empty net.

Many observers felt Hauge should have used the advantage rule, given the goal and allowed Lehmann to stay.

The Norwegian official has now conceded he should have paused before reaching for the red card. “We had full control of the match and all in all I’m quite happy with my performance,” Hauge told a Norwegian newspaper.

“The match started well, then there was the incident with the sending-off. At this point I would have liked to have taken a few more seconds before I made my decision.”

Hauge, who will not referee at this summer’s World Cup in Germany, put this haste down to the fact he was “incredibly focused.”

“The ideal thing would have been to wait a few seconds,” he said. “If I’d done that, I could have given the goal and eventually given a yellow card. Of course everyone wants a goal, so this was a key situation.”

However, Hauge maintained his decision was correct.

“Under other circumstances I would perhaps have done something different, but this mostly rested on the positioning in relation to the situation,” Hauge said.

“Everything happens quickly on the pitch and for me it looked as if there was physical contact. As well as that it happened in the linesman’s working area and I had no reason to doubt him in this instance.

“It was obviously a big game for Arsenal, and to lose is a huge disappointment. So I can understand their frustration. But we’ll have to give it a few days so we can discuss this more sensibly.”

Uefa has defended their match official. Director of communications William Gaillard said: “Hauge’s performances have been very good all year round?

“He is not on the list for the World Cup but neither is Herbert Fandel, because Germany already have one referee at the finals (Markus Merk).