That ref was a scandal indeed, not booking Digne after 6 mins, not giving the clear pen instead booking Sterling for diving, not booking Busquets after 3 fouls inside 5 mins but immediately booking Zaba after a light push middle of the park ... Absolutely scandalous.Still made up with the result a few days later! Top performance 2nd half and pretty good performance 1st half imo. That ref was as bent as a £4 note though, glad we put a statement out on Tuesday to the rest of the teams in the CL to show we mean business.
That ref was a scandal indeed, not booking Digne after 6 mins, not giving the clear pen instead booking Sterling for diving, not booking Busquets after 3 fouls inside 5 mins but immediately booking Zaba after a light push middle of the park ... Absolutely scandalous.
I usually think the whole pro Barcelona conspiracy is a bit exagerated but on Tuesday it was horrible. If we hadn't won, the club should've spoken out publically against him, and even now after we won, maybe even more if you win.Realistically, against top European sides, on another night we are not going to win, with reffing like that. We 'escaped' him.
On another night, we play slightly worse, Barca play slightly better, he decides the game.
With refs like that, the odds are in their favour, irrespective of whether we play better than them next time we meet.
I usually think the whole pro Barcelona conspiracy is a bit exagerated but on Tuesday it was horrible. If we hadn't won, the club should've spoken out publically against him, and even now after we won, maybe even more if you win.
It's not just Barca though, they are one of the main beneficiaries but it's all of the 'traditional' UEFA clubs to some extent.
We would be likely to suffer, if we played a UEFA semi v Utd or Liverpool. Some refs are better at hiding it than others (he was obvious on Tues) but they all bend over for the usual suspects, whether on purpose or subconciously.
I bet we'd still cop it in a big knockout game v AC Milan, even though they've been shit for years.
Totally agree that we got naff all all game and how we didn't get that pen was a joke. unfortunately it's something that seems to be a theme in the CL. wonder why.....That ref was a scandal indeed, not booking Digne after 6 mins, not giving the clear pen instead booking Sterling for diving, not booking Busquets after 3 fouls inside 5 mins but immediately booking Zaba after a light push middle of the park ... Absolutely scandalous.
Hm I'm not so sure about that, I would think most European refs don't really care if City win or Liverpool or United or AC Milan. Maybe Barcelona, Madrid, Munich & Juventus are slightly favored though.