"Sí, sí, sí..."
"... la copa ja està aquí!"
deserve... persevere... succeed!As Simon Barnes, Chief Sports Writer for The Times, described it:
There was no Miracle of Paris, then, just a predictable victory to the predictable victors. But it did not come about in a predictable manner...
Barca! Barca! Barca!
posted by Vijay Krishna Narayanan | 5/17/2006 05:55:00 PM
13 Comments:
Well whoever chose the referee should be sacked. He just spoilt the game. What could have been a great match turned into a crippled one sided one within 18 minutes.
No way I can agree that Barca was the best team in Stad de France yesterday.
I think the referee did the right thing, though Arsenal fans might opt to disagree. Lehmann was sent off justly, a simple case of the last defender rule; he wouldn't contest the fact that he came out of the area and made contact with Eto'o.
How many times have we seen centre-backs sent off for such an offence! Just because this was a final, and just because Arsenal were lucky enough to make it doesn't mean that the rule should be "twisted" according to the will of the mob.
Not one Gunner has uttered a word about Eboue's diving. Why? Because it suits them. If Barca were not the better team, then I couldn't spot any other side fitting the bill. This Gunner-whining is very much Mourinho-like.
It's ridiculous to challenge the referee's decision to red-card Lehmann. The advantage rule is a subjective call, and at no stage can the referee be blamed for not playing advantage. Especially not when here has been such a blatant foul, and that too at the top of the box. Imagine if the referee had played advantage and Giuly had fired the ball over the bar. What a catastrophe that could have been! The referee, in the game of soccer, is not allowed to track back a decision, you know...
Also, VK, can I copy the disclaimer bit from your blog? I don't have any on my blog, i think it's needed, and you use the same template as mine.
Well, the first goal was clearly an offside. U can see it million times on TV. It demoralised the Gunners and they were never able to organise their defence after that. No arguments for Lehmann decision, it was a red cardable offense. But that yellow card on Thierry Henry and allowing a highly debatable goal, juz too much to take. Gunners were the better team showing team spirit for most part of the match. They should have scraped through had not been for that decision
@Pinstripe: Sure, why not!
@Gopps: Would like to know what you feel about Eboue's dive. Why is everyone avoiding that? Why whine about the Gunners not being able to pick themselves up after the goal? It wasn't a case of clear offside anyway -- very very marginal. I think the rules are the same for everyone. Just that Arsenal are bad losers; they cannot agree they were beaten by a side that fired on all cylinders - late, but surely.
Firing on all cylinders, that is too strong a word. Ronaldinho was kept quiet for most part by a resolute Campbell. Turning point was the introduction of Hendrik Larsson. He created the two goals. 11 vs 10 esp in the favor of a gr8 time like Barca, one would give in when pressure is piled on repeatedly. Eboue's decision is again a questionable one, but wht do u say about the booking on Henry?
Of course, Barca didn't fire on all cylinders from the word go. But when they did -- and just for ten minutes -- the Gunners were bombed out.
See, you are talking about a "clear offside" in the case of Eto'o, but a "questionable decision" when talking about Eboue. As for the booking on Henry, well, that wasn't an incident which changed the course of the game, did it?
Let me quote the last lines of Simon Barnes' match report:
"It left Arsenal feeling horribly bitter - and a bitter football team always blame the referee. 'I don't want to start any arguments,' Henry said, mendaciously on the whole, I suspect, 'but I don't know if the referee had a Barcelona shirt on. They kicked me all over the place in the first half. I told the referee, 'If you don't want us to win it, just say it at the top.' Maybe next time I'll have to dive.' As a quick reality check here, Emmanuel Eboue won the free kick from which Arsenal scored their goal, and did so by means of an unquestioned dive. But 'twas ever thus in football: to the winner the cup, to the loser the unshakeable belief that it was all the fault of the referee, life, the universe and God."
Referees make mistakes, what to do, we have to live with it. They 2 are humans. But Arsenal have done themselves proud by giving a fight. Neways, keep posting mate. U r doing a gr8 job. Thought i would meet you on Krishna Kumar's marriage
Thanks. I did come to KK's wedding reception, but missed you. Only much later did I come to know (thro' Vijay R) that you had attended too.
The referee has gone on record saying it was a mistake red-carding Lehmann and it would have been better to allow the Guily goal and continue with 11 men per side.
But all said and done, that was a cool result.. an unexpected on on my behalf :P
But the match was pretty fun to watch especially the second half. Saying it was action packed would be the greatest understatement :)
_____________
By Aditya/Yin
www.glidingninja.blogspot.com
Barca won! but Gunners are the heros of the night. They might have lost CL but that night they won Henry.
@Arun: If Henry were, as everyone claims now, a Gunner for life, why didn't he pen a deal the moment it was offered? How easy it is to forget the past!
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