Just because you can see why he has done it doesn't mean it isn't controversial. It was a yellow card offence in my view. Indeed I can see why he produced a red, but I still consider it to have been the wrong call. Having said that, Ferdinand should get a lengthy ban for his show of dissent. Wenger got a three-game touchline ban for expressing doubt about Van Persie's sending off against Barcelona last year, which was similarly controversial, in much less offensive terms than Ferdinand did.
I think it was the push out of the leg that provoked the ref to produce a red card. Personally I think it was a yellow all day. Shame a great CL tie was overshadowed by a ref. On another note I think that the following will happen.... Fergie will win the title and claim Manchester United 20th title. Fergie will leave his role as manager in summer on a high. (think he would have wanted champions league to). Mourinho will leave Madrid after winning the CL. He has stated his next job will be back in England. He won't go back to Chelsea and will become the new United boss.
Agree that Mour might be in for the United job, especially after his atypically humble post-match interview, and "the best team lost" accolades...
Yeah that came across and the fact in his pre match interview when asked about Chelsea he seemed to distance himself from the post.
What an idiot! A man called the police last night and asked the referee to be arrested! It wasn't that bad a decision by the referee! Nani was always running the risk of being sent off by a European referee for what he did.
Not trying to justify calling the police, obviously, but what do you think he did exactly? I've seen players do that a million times, and almost always they don't collide with another player and nothing is done about it. His only crime, as far as I can tell, was keeping his eye on the ball.
I know there was no intent to make contact with the player, but that's irrelevant for serious foul play. What a referee takes into consideration is was excessive force used? Was it out of control? Is it endangering the opposing player? Excessive force.... I would say no but there is no doubt Nani was out of control. With your foot that high, you can't control yourself and as a result his foot made hefty contact with the player. He was lucky he didn't injure the player. If Arbeloa had tried to head the ball for some reason he could have got a nasty injury.
I think when even the opposition manager and players say it was a bad decision, there was probably something wrong with the decision.
But they're looking at it from a footballer's point of view and from that view I can see why it seems a bad decision. But from a referee's point of view,by the letter of the law, a red card was understandable and even the right decision.
I thought it was too harsh and a yellow was the proper call. But it wasn't a even close to being a horrible decision. It was a routine call that referees make and sometimes miss and/or are debatable. Too big a deal being made out of it. Nani shouldn't have tempted fate. The goal Newcastle scored against Saints was way worse as it came off a phantom penalty and an obvious offside. And there was nothing anyone at Saints could have done about it. Man U can't pin it all on that call. They get a lot more in their favor than they give up. Having said that, if that happened to me on Football Manager I would replay that game and not feel the slightest bit guilty about it.
To be fair I can understand why the ref gave it. Check out what it looked like from his angle.... please log in to view this image
Looked like a red to me. Reckless, too high and made contact...it may not be intentional, but lots of red cards aren't truly intentional ...they arise from desperation. ManU at that point, could still have held out. I hate the way that they get so outraged about everything that doesn't go their way...what goes around, comes around.
Sorry Fran but I've got my referee head on at the moment and it really annoys me when people associate reckless with a red card. Reckless by the laws of the game means a yellow card. Excessive force is a red card.
It's not that simple. Those terms have specific meanings within Law 12: “Careless” indicates that the player has not exercised due caution in making a play. “Reckless” means that the player has made unnatural movements designed to intimidate an opponent or to gain an unfair advantage. “Involving excessive force” means that the player has far exceeded the use of force necessary to make a fair play for the ball and has placed the opponent in considerable danger of bodily harm. I would say that studs to the chest definitely places the opponent in considerable danger of bodily harm. The question is whether or not he "far exceeded" the necessary force or merely slightly exceeded it and that has nothing to do with intent. It's really just another way of asking "How reckless was it?"
I think we can presume Nani expected a red. There was no other reason for him to be rolling around and pretending to be injured when he clearly wasn't. Roy Keane pretty much got it spot on with what he said after the game.
I absolutely agree, what Ferdinand did after the match was the behaviour of a very spoilt child. If we saw our own kids doing that to anyone, I'm sure they would be reminded very strongly about respect and basic manners. Typical MU when they lose. What would have happened if it had been the other way round? I bet Mr F would have jumping up and down the touchline then. It's always the same with them. Even Roy Keane of all people (possible axe to grind?) said it was a red card. That's pretty rich coming from an ace agent provocateur yelling as he has done in the ref's face. Though he was right this time IMO.
I wanted ManU to win because I always want to see British teams go through to keep me interested, but I have always hated the sense of outrage that ManU players, managers and fans always express when things go against them. It's as if they think it breaks the laws of physics.
