like other teams dont have money... http://www.forbes.com/2005/03/30/05soccerland.html seems like only one team in the top five is english and by the way the english market also brings in more money so they can spend it.
for those who saw the game fixed to favor barca, the red card to abidal certainly disproved that theory in the 66'. the ref was clearly trying to make up it to barca for his plunder with the red card and thus made calls favoring barca. the most obvious was the no pk on the pique hand ball which would've crippled barca's chances to advance. but by not giving that pk, barca was clearly still in, needing only a draw and at that time, a single goal, which was very possible. ultimately, it came down to chelsea's squandered chances and the "whiff" by essien?? who failed to clear the ball in the box. no doubt the ref had his impact on the game. here's a question. if chelsea had scored a goal after barca tied it up, would the ref's mistake in the match be less controversial than it is now? personally, i think it would be less controversial, just my opinion.
Obviously it wouldn't have mattered nearly as much cause Chelsea would simply feel that justice had been done, as would many many neutrals.
justice would have been done but the ref still would have been horrible cuz the game could have easily been 4-1. id be happy though cuz at least he called enough to get us through.
He wouldn't have been controlling that match if he wasn't a decent referee. There's a reason that things like this are (thankfully) rare. The guy would have been inspected and marked by a panel of several experts on every top-flight game he's ever done at a domestic level. The scrutiny once you get to UEFA games is even higher, and he's been refereeing those for fifteen years. I have no idea what happened out there today, but Chelsea were undoubtably unfortunate for being on the receiving end. Cold comfort I'm sure, but I doubt we will see him referee another high-profile game.
I really do hope he never gets another top game again it was a disgrace. Chelsea would rather have been thumped 3-0 then lose this way. Also how did the linesman miss the Pique handball?
He may not have missed it. But if the referee had a view of the incident equally good or better than the one the assistant had, then the assistant would have deferred to the decision of the referee.
It's hard to tell what he was doing, exactly, but he certainly wasn't trying to touch the ball. It looks like the ball was heading for his face and he instinctively turned like that. And it's the kind of thing I can easily forgive a ref for not calling. Unlike the Pique handball. Or the foul that was actually a penalty. Was Malouda's right foot on the line there in the first pic, and was he already falling down at that point? Because I can kind of see how the ref might have flubbed that if he thought Malouda was falling from outside into the area at the moment that picture was taken.
only one of those has to be called for the game to be won for chelsea... upsetting for them knowing how hard they played and how deserving they were
If Chelsea take one of the umpteen chances they have on the break with Barca pushing forward for the equalizer, this is a moot point. Yes, the ref sucked, for both teams, but for Chelsea to blame anyone but themselves is childish and to act the way they did in the aftermath is nothing short of a disgrace to the game.
Initial contact occurred outside the box. That still photo isn't taken at the moment of initial contact. After watching the match a second time (with emotions removed), the referee didn't appear near as bad as I originally thought. I recommend everyone else watch it a second time (seriously). I counted 6 shouts for Chelsea penalties but none of them were more than 50/50 (most were more like 20/80 in favour of no penalty), the exception perhaps the Pique handball. But the Pique handball came after the red card so you could argue that one doesn't occur without the other. So two bad calls but they offset. It even offsets the Fletcher red card from a day earlier.
Re: Will the match official of the Chelsea...... Incorrect. Initial contact came outside the box. Please look at the incident again.
I'm skeptical to say Fletcher didn't deserve that card. He did get the ball, but he followed through by scissoring Fabregas (I think it was Cesc). Fletcher doesn't get all that much of the ball and hits it into the Arsenal player's path, so if Fletch doesn't drag him down afterward, he has a chance at a shot. That's still a foul, and he's the last man.
Initial intensity and drama removed, after watching it a second time I agree with you. We relate to Chelsea's grief but intellectually speaking they don't have much of a leg to stand on when you when you look at the entire frame.
Re: Will the match official of the Chelsea...... Not that it matters now, but if that was the case, given the spot where the free kick was taken, it was off by a mile. Please look at the incident again. And yes, it matters ******** all now, but let's be honest here. I know you're a former ref and all, but this guy ********ed up big time today.
I rarely post, but this is starting to tick me off. It doesn't matter how many chances Chelsea "squandered" themselves. One of the (at least 2) clear-cut penalties would have won them the game. If Ballack had handballed Iniesta's kick in the 93rd minute and not been called for it to prevent the goal, how would Barcelona feel? Heck, they didn't even have any chances to squander themselves. The stats would read something like 0 shots on goal for the game. They are not the superior team because they had the possession and the one chance goal. Football is a game of numbers. Chelsea should have won this many times over but for the horrible decisions the ref made. Concerning the handball by Pique (everybody WORLDWIDE knows this is a penalty. Intended or not, his hand changed the tranjectory of the ball): it doesn't MATTER that the ref didn't have a good angle. There is a linesman and I'm sure somebody else must have also spotted it. Are some of you guys really so blind? And stuff the Barca red card. We were winning against 11 men - he did not need to go. So to the anti-Chelsea people saying that the Pique handball kind of cancelled out that ill-conceived red card (it was bad...), you're wrong. Any team would trade a man-advantage for a goal in the second half. Even against Barcelona. Especially after defending so well. Chelsea were robbed. I feel sorry for Ballack at the end there. That ball might have been going in. He hit nearly the exact same shot (with the same spin on the ball!) against the Czech Republic at Euro 2004. It ended up hitting the underside of Eto's arm. A clear handball. You don't put your hands above your head. Chelsea. Were. Robbed.
Re: Will the match official of the Chelsea...... If I wanted to watch 30 seconds break every 2-3 minutes, I would watch a boring sport like Baseball. No thanks.