After being subbed on and making his 800th appearance for the club, Ryan Giggs rounded the keeper and scored. The linesman’s flag was up though making an incredibly right call. There were angry shouts from the crowd with Giggsy clearly looking onside. I’ve yet to see replays but everyone I have spoken to reckons it’s too tight to call. If it’s that close of a decision then it is clear the linesman did not follow the football rules of giving the advantage to the attacking player.
Whilst 1-0 puts us in a favourable position to go to the final a 2-0 advantage would be brilliant.
It’s funny how the press go mental when decisions wrongly go in our favour but don’t bat an eyelid when they go against us!
“Two offsides are not offside and a few fouls he didn’t give. It was not his best game,” said Ronaldo. “The first one Anderson was not offside and, with Giggsy, I’m not sure either. They are not great decisions. We have to respect the referee but he did not have the best game. I hope we will have a better one at Arsenal. It is going to be much more difficult there. Arsenal are playing in front of their own supporters, so it will be tough but it is not a problem for us. We are always favourites. We are the holders of the Champions League and we are always confident. We are a mature team and we know how to play away from home.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Giggsy’s was very tight.The Ando one was clear.Arsenal escped from jail yesterday and i hope we don’t regret that.
In addition to CR’s complaints about the phantom offsides, one could add that Carlitos got a yellow card for a “challenge” that he could hardly avoid whereas Adebayor got nothing – nothing ! – for a deliberate handball.
One might also add the very reckless tackles that this referee let go – Silly’s trip of CR7 outside the box might have been unintentional but the video evidence – and, one supposes, this referee’s eyes – make it perfectly clear that Ronaldo’s foot was clipped. That wasn’t the only time that Ronaldo’s so-called “reputation” seemed to influence this referee. A bad job of work.
.. We are always favourites,… absolutely class.
ref robbed me of 500 quid
5er on giggs to score and take his jersey off
Denton Davey – he’s a cheating cunt that Adebayor. I guess he figured because he got away with scoring with his hand last time he came to OT, he’d give it a go again. Lanky Milan loving twat.
Well the linesmen had a bad game then. I think the ref had a decent game, apart from the tevez yellow.
I can’t remember the Ref giving a Free Kick in favour of Ronnie, He was rightly disgusted with him throughout the match.!
Adebayor got lucky by escaping a booking, poor Carlitos got booked for pulling out.!
well I’d have taken a 1-0 to arsenal for the second leg, cos I am pretty sure we can score an away goal, they beat us 2-1 and we are through.
Great performance in the first half, they were poor and we didn’t give them too much time to play, but for Fletcher chased eveything down in the middle and even ronnie was closing down and tracking back, fergies little ‘chat’ does seem to have worked as everyone seems to have got their game back up to the standard we expect.
Really looking forward to the second leg and hope that we get through and play barca.
Scott’s he’s a basket ball player, he should be in the harlam globe trotters
I agree Scott the way the press don’t say much about it just speaks volumes of what they think of UTD. The thing is, although 2-0 is far better than 1-0 we should play the same way. The key thing is for Anderson or fletcherinho to stop cecs from playing his game. Quieten their crowd.
Doherty i disagree.Not one single ronaldo territory place?Oh please.
linesman was shite.in the 2nd half he gave one onside decision to Ron when he was clearly ofside by 2 yards.
http://www.timesoccer.com/video/04/29-manchester-united-vs-arsenal-live-champions-league-highlights.html heres the goal
scroll down till ya find it
almost sympathized with ron during his temper tantrum…
I am fedup with this ref cunts!! Where are there professionalism? I think football authorities should let the media officiate games going forward.
Riley fucked up because of media pressure at Wembley, as a result Webb messed up at OT in our favor, the ref last night had a prepared mind about Ronaldo before even taking to the pitch! What da fuck!!!!!!!!!!! I fucking hate these bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Refs decisions always balance out – we’ve had tons in our favour and tons against, you cant complain about them despite them being costly – its a fact of life in the game – prob the best we had was the Roy Carrol save OMG
in all honesty, this is the first match ever that i’ve watched that ronaldo has not win a single foul in 90mins. WTF??????????????????????????????
@Supey:
The funny thing about that is that Claus Bo in an interview to danish media claimed the Ronaldo shouldnt be treated any different just because of his reputation. I counted at least 3 clear freekicks he didnt give Ronaldo last night – whereas Arsenal got freekicks in almost exact same situations.
Apart from that I think the ref had a pretty good match – you cant really blame him for the offsides (I do think Giggs’ goal was rightly ruled out though – very tight, but from what I could see on TV he was just a bit ahead) and although I think Tevez’ yellow card was very harsh (wouldnt even have been a freekick anywhere else on the field) its a tough call and keepers almost always gets overprotected.
i just want my money
united won no away goal for arsenal
no problem
Scott: “he’s a cheating cunt that Adebayor” No he’s not – he’s a very naughty boy. His handball was soooo obvious that he had to grin sheepishly which is why, I figure, the crappy ref had pity on him.
Anyone remember Adebeyor’s dive at OT a few years ago? Cheating bastard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pht0UkRWNhQ
stephen thats just for you
c h e a t
Anderson was clear, Giggs was very tight but no one could have complained if he would have been allowed to escape with that. The attacker should be given the benefit of the doubt. It’s also very annoying reading the press these days, they focus entirely on all ref mistakes in our favor but don’t bother to mention those who go against us. Imagine if we’d switch places in the FA Cup against Everton; if United would have escaped with a spot on penalty decision against them like Everton did and then win on penalties, the press would have been all over it!
(excuse my spelling and grammar, English is not my native language)
don’t forget about his flailing handball into the net last year at OT that scott mentioned. he celebrated like he scored a legitimate goal. “milan loving twat” sums it up quite nicely.
the ref was poor, seemed like he was trying to make a point that he wasw not intimidated… im not sure about having refs from countries such as denmark reffing champions league semi finals….
any thoughts
He is not talking about Madrid.
The ref wasnt great but i sometimes want to kick ronaldo hard in the shins and say if you get kicked like that then roll on the gound or complain about not getting a free kick!
I am a little tired of him throwing himself to the ground!
Yes i think he gets a rough time but he isnt doing himself any favours! I remember late in the game he had a little tantrum.
scott
what about birthday wishes to john o shea! happy birthday lad, thanks for last night, keep it up
Definitely the ref had come in to the game with pre conceived ideas. Ron was fouled 3 times…yet nowt was given…..1 clear onside by 2 yards and i level. None given…Hello its the attacking team that should get the advantage.
Then carlitos gets booked for pulling out of a 50 50..
Fuckin arsenal loving danish bastard
Trevor: “I am a little tired of him throwing himself to the ground! Yes i think he gets a rough time but he isnt doing himself any favours! I remember late in the game he had a little tantrum.”
You’re right and wrong – his response to rough treatment does himself no favours but that doesn’t mean he is “throwing himself on the ground”. Almost without exception, replays show that he has been kicked or tripped or nudged when running at speed. It’s hard to keep balance when running at speed. And, Ronaldo runs fast.
Yesterday, for instance, in the second half Silly caught CR’s trailing leg and threw him off balance, and then a couple of yards on CR had lost his balance, and went down. Hardly an instance of “throwing himself on the ground”. There was another example in the first half when he was running through two players, got buffeted, and then went down. I don’t remember that one as clearly as the first example but this happens in every game.
Try watching these plays – or others like them – on your video recorder (or DVD player) and you’ll see that defenders – who always take liberties (like Vidic the shirt puller) – will do anything inside (or outside) the rules to slow the guy down. Some people want to call that kind of action “professional fouls”, I think it’s cheating – no matter who does it.
Where’s Suhayl ?
oops soory suhaylmate….scrolled down too quick missed you….
denton davey
I get your point and agree to an extent. Players who play at top speed dont take much to knock off balance and foul.
Its the way he throws himself to the ground which drives me mad. If he is cliped and he stumbles over then fine, he has a case! What i have seen too much of is he is cliped and both feet come off the ground with no attempt to stay on his feet of tumble etc!
I want refs to protect him more and at times he gets a rough deal. The only way thats going to happen is if he helps himself and cuts down on the acting!
Although saying that the bigest actor in the world is drop to the ground drogba! Its that bad its embarasing! I remember a match john terry laughed at him! Which i thought funny!
Trevor: “The only way thats going to happen is if he helps himself and cuts down on the acting!”
I not sure that a complete change in his “attitude” would do much – he now has a “reputation” as a “diver” and reputations are usually set in stone so that contrary evidence doesn’t count for much (e.g., the trip v. Spurs in the League Cup final).
Everyone seemed to be criticizing Ronnie for going to ground too easy, but he seemed to be trying not to when he was obviously fouled this game. What is he to do?
well…if seen closely..it was ronaldo who was offside not giggs…he ran ahead before itself, and was in the process of moving backwards to avoid the offside trap when the pass was made…a
well…if seen closely..it was ronaldo who was offside not giggs…he ran ahead before itself, and was in the process of moving backwards to avoid the offside trap when the pass was made…
er…my bad…cant see clearly if its berbatov or ronaldo.. But he sure is offside!! Giggs definitely isnt offside..
nikhil
The pass was not to him so it wouldnt have mattered! The not interfering with play rule!!!!
In fairness to the linesman. The run of Berbatov or Ronaldo blocked where the defender was and as giggs was guick next he seen was giggs ahead of play!