http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...CMP=SOC-SunFootball-SFtw-24_04_2014-318-0-0-0 XABI ALONSO has blasted UEFA for the âunfairâ rule which will force him the miss the Champions League final. The midfield maestro picked up a yellow card for a sloppy first-half challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger during Real Madridâs resounding 4-0 win in Germany. (Don't have a Sun membership so cant get the rest of the article) However anyone think its UEFA's fault that he misses the final? For him getting a booking... Seems highly daft he'd blast them for it knowing it is him at fault...
It was a stupid, stupid challenge I thought, needless, but I've often thought they should reset bookings for semi-finals, you should only miss a final if you're sent off.
agree with the stupid challenge bit GG but not the resetting. accumulative yellow cards are collected as a result of persistent foul play and deserve all they get imo. If the players haven`t the brains to see that then it`s their problem.
I agree But at the end of the day the challenge he made was completely unnecessary, and he knew it as soon as he went to ground
I know what you're saying Pops, but say it's a semi final on a knife edge, the likelihood of a player battling and getting a genuine yellow is surely enhanced? They reset them at the QF, just do it at semi's, if you get booked both legs of the semi, then fair play like.
That`s true enough mate but I`m still not sure. It seems me to be letting them off with previous when that`s what got them into this situation. After all, the cumulative system was designed to punish persistent offenders. `Genuine yellow`? Interesting phrase.
You know say a genuine attempt to win the ball, slightly mistimed, as opposed to a cynical pull back or whatever.
Right, I understand and agree with that but I still don`t see why, if a player has picked up yellow cards for a series of offenses, (cynical or otherwise) they should forget all that just because they are getting nearer to winning a trophy. If, eg Alonso has picked up yellow cards for persistent offending (which it is) then compounds it by stupidity he`s only got himself to blame. He has no right to complain imo as it`s not this final offence which has done the damage it`s all the others where he`s misbehaved.