Liverpool deserved it

That's my take.

If you have players diving all over the pitch, then surely you have to expect that you are going to get burned yourself:

but Torres appears to have something about him. He is no great physical specimen – witness the number of times he hit the deck in the first half, with Terry imploring the referee to book the forward for diving

Torres was diving all over the pitch - and it was blatant. And we don't have YouTube highlights to confirm, but one of the dives - either from Torres or one of his teammates - resulted in a yellow card for a Chelsea player who did not even touch the Liverpool player on the 'offending play'.

Sorry, I can't feel sorry for cheaters.

Adding, the incredible righteousness all over the press about one mistake that the referee made - it's boring. It's a near-impossible job, the players and managers are treated like gods and the refs are left to deal with the crowd, players, and managers alike. It makes no sense at all. How about we start sanctioning players for diving? Not just a yellow card when an offensive player rarely dives so badly in the area that the ref has no choice but to award a yellow. Next time any player simulates, anywhere on the field, they should see yellow. That will prevent these more serious mistakes from happening.

...thanks to The Offside for a pointer to the video. This is really bizarre, but the referee apologized, and after looking at the replay, I'm almost positive this was a good call - the correct call. There does appear to have been contact. And it does appear as though the Liverpool player tried to pull back from what was going to be a PK, but he didn't pull back quickly enough, Malouda milked it, and the ref called it. It all seems pretty straitforward and essentially, if not perfectly, honest to me.