It is especially important in knockout competitions where there is less chance for them 'to even themselves out'
The whole of officiating and the rules of football need overhauling really. Football is in the dark ages compared to other sports. It's like having a guy with a stop watch for the 100m sprint and trying to time Usain Bolt. The rules need clarifying and simplifying again, leave no (or as little as possible) room for doubt. Set out what is and what isn't acceptable. Bring in more retroactive punishment whether or not the referee has already seen it and deemed it wasn't an offence because it was Man United or Diego Costa for clear instances of cheating (e.g. diving, feigning injury, hitting opposition players). Immediate lifetime bans for being John Terry, Charlie Adams or Sergio Ramos. And video technology to be explored to push the boundaries of what is possible (whey the fook are offside decisions in a high speed sport left to some tubby bloke with a flag. I've run the line before and it is bloody difficult sometimes to see/hear when a ball is hit and where any attacking players are at that exact same moment). Time for football to be a leader rather than a reluctant follower.
It was a great match between 2 good sides. Then the ref decided it with a number of really obviously wrong decisions. All of them in favour of Real. I'm no great lover of Bayern but they were cheated out of it last night and wasn't subtly done either. Given that they are sponsored by the Spanish government and have the freedom to unsettle any players they see fit and then pay them vast sums of money from a bankrupt national purse, do they need to have all of UEFA in their pockets too?
I'm still seething over the way South Korea were allowed to progress to the semi finals of the 2002 world cup, courtesy of 3 incorrectly disallowed goals for Italy (and Totti sent off for no obvious reason) and Spain. Whilst unproven, it was effing obvious that Fifa told referees what the results should be.
The other suggestion (by me) is, as the team was called Korea for the tournament instead of South Korea, referees were afraid that Kim Jong-il might have been upset if the team lost.
According to my BT account there is free coverage of at least one of the CL games on tonight on the channel or streaming it on the BT website.
Not sure about freeview, but my previous experience of games on virgin showcase is that they are on freeview, too. This was a while ago, so they may have stopped it now. But I've checked virgin and it's definitely on channel 548, for those who have it
Monaco already one up on the night. Guess it would be some consolation if they ended up winning the bloody thing!!
Barca and crowd trying everything to intimidate the referee who is ignoring it and doing very well......So far.
Juve are a different proposition to PSG. Defending is what the Italians do. Playing for a 0-0 is right up their street
Monaco v Dortmund is an enthralling game. As they have in most rounds so far, the Principality side ran out of steam after about 60mins, but can still rely on the pace of Mbappe and Lemar to get them out of trouble. Far better defensively than they were last year too.
For all their firepower, the really haven't troubled Juve that much tonight. Not sure that shoving Pique up front and going direct is doing their image much good, either. Andy Carroll to the Nou Camp in the summer, perhaps?
