I do not wish to be, to quote Jose Mourinho, “one of the
bottle”. This evening’s football match, and particularly one decision, has of
course sent Pundits, Broadcasters, Twitter and the world into a frenzy. I don’t
wish to be yet another person castigating the decision and the punditry, but
for what it is worth, here is my reasoned response, unrestricted by 140
character limits.
At the time of the red card incident, United were 1-0 up on
the night, and therefore led 2-1 on aggregate. Whilst Real Madrid were
pressing, they had not scored, and they were not creating clear-cut opening at
the rate they were able to after the sending off. United were defending deep,
getting 10 men behind the ball and closing down as a team, this proved
impossible with a player short against world class opposition. Therefore
conclusion 1 is this: The game was changed by the decision, and whilst United
were by no means home and dry at 1-0, by the time they were down to 10 men with
over half an hour to go, the game was over as a contest. Those watching the
game were deprived of an even contest, and United were deprived of a chance to
progress.
The challenge itself wasn’t even something I would describe
as a challenge. As Nani watched the ball drop over his shoulder he naively
raised his foot to control the ball, not once looking at his opponent. The foul
was made as Arbeloa got to the ball first, leaving Nani’s trailing leg to catch
him in the chest. As a challenge in the truest sense was not made, this rules
out excessive force. Therefore, the referee, or whichever official led in the
decision making process, has chosen to deem Nani’s high foot as being dangerous
to Arbeloa’s safety. Several things lead me to believe this was not the case.
On a regular basis, very similar challenges are punished with yellow cards in
which the officials deem the foul to be serious, but not dangerous. During the
same game, challenges by Arbeloa and Ramos could equally have been deemed
dangerous by the same officials, Arbeloa for leading with his studs in a
challenge on Evra’s thigh, and Ramos who was penalised for a foul with his
forearm against Van Persie. I must also make it clear that I don’t think either
of these were dangerous enough to receive red cards, but the nature of the
challenges, Arbeloa leading with studs, and Ramous catching Van Persie on the
head, could be deemed equally as dangerous as Nani hanging a leg out in an attempt
to control the ball. Furthermore, the rules should always be applied with
common sense. Whilst Roy Keane refused to accept this point, Nani was not
attempting to challenge Arbeloa, it was simply a reckless attempt to control
the ball. From this evidence I make conclusion number 2, the red card was
incorrectly given as the collision was accidental and not forceful enough to
seriously threaten the opponent.
Combining these 2 conclusions together I feel this is a
reasonable conclusion to come to: This evening’s football match was ruined by
the referee’s decision to wrongly send off Nani. This decision led to Real
Madrid running away with victory despite a great effort from United’s 10 men
and a cracking response from the crowd who have every right to feel an official’s
decision has seen them waste the time, money and effort they spent going to the
game tonight.
Football is a contact sport. It is a competitive sport. And
it is a spectator sport. It’s also about the footballers and not the referee,
if only he’d considered that at the time.
