Much talked about sequence of decisions by the referee. There are essentially three controversial decisions (or non-decisions) on the same play, which resulted in a goal. 1)The most interesting moment preceded the play (not seen on the below replay). Osasuna captain Patxi Punal has the ball in the middle of the field. Referee Fernandez basically bodychecks Punal, which allows Messi to take the ball and run unchallenged to the penalty area with the Osasuna defence in chaos. According to the rules of the game the ref has no obligation to stop play, albeit this exact situation (obstructing a player by a referee) isn't explicitly stated in the LOTG (the rule states that the ball is in play after a rebound off the referee), even if it is suggested that the ref is basically part of the field. Personally I feel that this should be dealt with by fair play (the opposing player shouldn't use the situation to his advantage). Although - would anyone really protest if the referee stops play and restarts to correct the situation, which he caused? I remember a similar controversial situation in the Ireland vs Spain match at the Euro. 2) Incorrect non-offside call on initial play. Not much of a talking point and I can understand how the AR missed it (Pedro was returning from offside, while the Osasuna player was running forward meaning the whole situation was within a fraction of a second) 3) After protesting off-side and non-call on the body-check the Osasuna player who was bodychecked by the referee gets a straight red card. We can only surmise that he said something that was overboard towards the referee (so the red card was probably warranted), but given the sequence of events shouldn't the referee have showed a bit more restraint and issued a yellow and a strong warning? It goes without saying that Osasuna were pretty mad after the whole game. Personally feel the ref should have dealt better with damage control (the game than derailed into chaos - 4 yellows within the next 15 minutes), but can't really err him ipso facto for calls.
Hard to say. The video shows nothing but a good goal. Pedro was "on" the moment the ball was played -- he was even with the 2LD. Your comments about the collision with the referee are borderline ridiculous. Here is a bit more video, but it doesn't cover the actual collision. (7:37 mark) It is clear, however, that no one goes down or anything like that. Colliding with the CR happens. It's no different than the goal post or the corner flag. To suggest a player is violating so sort of "fair play" by continuing play here is just silly.
On the picture you showed above he clearly looked 'off' (actually two players are offside on that shot just so we're on the same page - the one lower gets the ball). That said I'm not sure we're talking about Pedro, that could have been Sanchez. I have no idea what your issue is with my evenhanded comments about the collission (or body check as a more adequate description). I didn't place any blame on anyone for the situation, just the fact that the occurence did cause controversy (no matter if it was within the LOTG). Correct me if I am mistaken: Although the rulebook talks about the ball hitting the ref (as the same as hitting the goal post) it doesn't say anything about the ref colliding with a player. Ball hitting refs is pretty standard stuff, but colliding with the referee is pretty rare. Like I said the referee did nothing wrong and had no obligation to stop play, nonetheless the situation did aggreviate the opposition side, so maybe a bit of restraint with handing out a straight red would be a better option. In the end the referee ended up being the 'bad guy' and no referee can be pleased with such an outcome. I never said any player violated fair play. I just said that it may have been in the spirit of fair play to not benefit from the clash, but since there are no fair play rules then no point in blaming anyone.
As a point of correction - no player is offside until they become active in the play. Ignoring names for a moment, the Barca player at the top of the screen is in an offside position, but not offside as he was never active in the play. The Barca player at the bottom is beyond the Osasuna player nearest him, however, he is even with the Osasuna player near the top of the arc. Thus, he is onside at the moment the ball is played to him. Under the LotG, anyone other than a player, substitute, or team official is an outside agent EXCEPT the officials who are part of the field of play. If an outside agent interferes with play, play should be stopped immediately. The ref is not an outside agent, so if he interferes, play continues. Colliding with it is no different than colliding with any other part of the field of play - the grass, the post, the corner flag. If two players collide in a manner that does not violate law 12, you are not going to stop play (unless there was a serious injury). So why in the world would you stop play just because it was the official rather than another player? There is zero basis for stopping play here. And yet, you are willing to do just that and blame Messi? Look, I understand, something unfortunate happened in a game and you're pissed. But since it did not violate the LotG, why would you come on a referee's forum to complain about it when all of the actions were clearly legal?
Wow. That was astonishingly bad defending. That was what, 4 v. 7 in the box, the guy who had the assist was double-teamed, and how many blown clearances were in there, followed by the goal scorer being completely unmakred, despite essentially loitering the box in the middle of four defenders. It would have been a 3 second violation in basketball. I can see the need to blame the referee.
As a point of absolute correction - the player is in an offside position, but he is not committing an offside offence. I never claimed the player up top is commiting an offside offence, although I can understand why you misunderstood me. Honestly the picture is too fuzzy to be certain, but I get your point (I missed the Osasuna guy higher up and focused on the guy nearer). Also - if you move it a fraction of a second earlier, when the ball has actually just been touched (I my opinion you paused it a fraction too late) the case for offside is stronger. I agree he may be onside, but am not sure, nonetheless if it is offside its minimal. Are you preaching to the choir or what? Where did I blame Messi? Messi has nothing to do with it. It probably would be a nice gesture to leave the ball, but no one should or would expect a different reaction from any player. I honestly didn't even think about Messi until you guys started focusing on some obscure part of my post. The reason I posted it is: a) It was the controversy of the weekend. Whether or not it was the really controversial is sort of secondary. b) The referee got a lot of flak for the handling of the situation, ergo wanted to hear referee opinions. c) If anything is really to be discussed in my view is whether the ref could have handled the fall out better. Ergo should he have handed out a red card for a clear red card offence (slander by the Osasuna player) or could he have issued a yellow and a stern warning to avoid enfuriating the already enfuriated players. So far everyone focused on the noncontentious noncall on the collision, an imaginary fair play issue with Messi and the offside / not offside call, which are a dime a dozen. Maybe something is off with my communication (for which I'm sorry), but you guys totally misread the intent. I'll repeat myself: The referee technically didn't do anything wrong, just enquiring whether he could have handled the situation better to not become the 'fall guy'.
Without knowing what was actually said, it is impossible to opine on how it was handled. Offensivie, insulting or abusive language or behavior reds are pretty rare at the highest levels -- the fact one was given suggests that the player was way over the line in what he said. (If, indeed, the red was for something he said and not something he did that wasn't captured on the video.) But all we can do is guess without hearing what was actually said.
According to the ref he said "me cago en tu puta madre" (loosely translated to 'I shite on you whore of a mother'). Definitely red card worthy, although seen refs called worse and dishng out yellows in response.
Yup. Hardly see controversy here other than the stupidity of the player -- it's hard to find something bad enough to get tossed, but, yup, he did it.