baldybouncer said:I've just watched the incident over and over again in slow motion and the use of inflamatory phrases like "studs in the chest" and "raking his studs down the players leg" is totally incorrect (heard that on the radio coming home from the match). I think Balotelli actually pulls his foot away from Popov's chest before he makes contact and then catches Popov's upper thigh when he's bringing his leg back down. There is no continous raking action down the leg. From where the linesman is stood he can only see Balotelli's raised foot. Don't know how much the ref saw though. One point in Balaotelli's defence is that the Kiev players weren't all up in arms and protesting to the ref. Probably looked worse in real time hence the red card. Be interested in any other Bluemooners points of view (other than kill Balotell).
Ok, Balotelli made absolutely no effort to take his leg out of that, arguably quite the opposite. Even the most blinkered blue could not dare suggest that wasn't a red. Having someone who is utterly obsessed with himself will sometimes mean that the team get shat on completely and that is what happened tonight.