Red Letter Day for Barcelona
Congrats to Barcelona, deserving winners of the 2006 Champions League yesterday against Arsenal. Yet another fantastic fanale, exciting from start to finish.
The big debate now is on whether Jens Lehmann should have been shown a red card in the 18th minute for his take down of Samuel Eto'o. I think the best decision at the time would have been to play the advantage, which would have resulted in a Barca goal. The game bore this out. Arsenal grabbed a one goal before the end of the first half, but did not have the energy to hold on playing down a man. The final 15 minutes were a debacle for the London side. Two goals slipped in and the Gunners spent the last 10 minutes chasing after the ball like a 2nd grader chasing a gang of bullies who've stolen his hat.
It was a shame that the final stretch was the least entertaining, but that was the result of the red card. Advantage should have been played. Barcelona would have gotten their goal (deserved by Eto'o and Co. on that particular play), and Arsenal would have even numbers to try to get it back. The Gunners were all in good form yesterday (except the overwhelmed Fabregas) and it would have been a spendid match.
And yet, the red card was completely justified. Lehmann intentionally grabbed Eto'o's ankle, yanking him to the ground. He 100% deserved to be sent off.
So we're left with an ambiguous conclusion. Red was definitely deserved, but so was a goal. Either way, the ref shouldn't really be faulted. Indeed, the referee made the exact same point today.
Furthermore, the debate didn't really matter in the long run. Arsenal have nothing to complain about because they avoided conceding the first goal and lead for most of the match. Barcelona have nothing to complain about because they rode the man advantage to victory.
Lehmann is the only one who should be losing sleep over this. He likely would have saved the tying goal and almost certainly would have stopped the winner. He will head into the World Cup in the best form of his career, with the tiny consolation being that, because of the red card, he did not concede a single goal in the Champions League this season.
And that is that. Bring on the World Cup!!
The big debate now is on whether Jens Lehmann should have been shown a red card in the 18th minute for his take down of Samuel Eto'o. I think the best decision at the time would have been to play the advantage, which would have resulted in a Barca goal. The game bore this out. Arsenal grabbed a one goal before the end of the first half, but did not have the energy to hold on playing down a man. The final 15 minutes were a debacle for the London side. Two goals slipped in and the Gunners spent the last 10 minutes chasing after the ball like a 2nd grader chasing a gang of bullies who've stolen his hat.
It was a shame that the final stretch was the least entertaining, but that was the result of the red card. Advantage should have been played. Barcelona would have gotten their goal (deserved by Eto'o and Co. on that particular play), and Arsenal would have even numbers to try to get it back. The Gunners were all in good form yesterday (except the overwhelmed Fabregas) and it would have been a spendid match.
And yet, the red card was completely justified. Lehmann intentionally grabbed Eto'o's ankle, yanking him to the ground. He 100% deserved to be sent off.
So we're left with an ambiguous conclusion. Red was definitely deserved, but so was a goal. Either way, the ref shouldn't really be faulted. Indeed, the referee made the exact same point today.
Furthermore, the debate didn't really matter in the long run. Arsenal have nothing to complain about because they avoided conceding the first goal and lead for most of the match. Barcelona have nothing to complain about because they rode the man advantage to victory.
Lehmann is the only one who should be losing sleep over this. He likely would have saved the tying goal and almost certainly would have stopped the winner. He will head into the World Cup in the best form of his career, with the tiny consolation being that, because of the red card, he did not concede a single goal in the Champions League this season.
And that is that. Bring on the World Cup!!
posted by Prof. A at 2:24 PM
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