After all the justified forms of criticism that was widely issued during and after the main UEFA event of this year, the 2012 European Championship held in Poland and Ukraine that will probably and chiefly stay in everybody's mind - when reflecting this tournament's refereeing - for the non-given goal in the match between Ukraine and England despite the attendance of an additional assistant referee, we may constitute that the majority of the performances shown during the first four matchdays of this UEFA Champions League season have been very satisfactory.
Matchday 4 in a nutshell
Although it is surely quite arduous to ensure a sufficient overview of all the 16 clashes, I will try to emphasize the most significant decisions of the last matchday.
Each relevant scene will be explained with references to the point of time when they start or occur in the embedded videos (integrated into the text by brackets). You can either watch the video first to make sure you know what I am gonna talk about and to form an own opinion, or you can first read the analysis and go through the video by scene. It's upon you.
Remark: Due to copyright infringements, dailymotion's videos have been removed.
Remark: Due to copyright infringements, dailymotion's videos have been removed.
Basis 1: Schalke 04 2:2 FC Arsenal, officiated by an Italian team headed by Nicola Rizzoli
The Italian officials were challenged more than previously expected in this match. The first scene concerns Arsenal's leading goal [0:45]. Arsenal's striker Giroud (12) gets the ball after a long pass coming from their defense. Schalke's Neustädter deflects the ball with a header, probably trying to clear the ball. Without this deflection, Giroud would have been in an active offside position which Renato Faverani should have signalized in this case. The question is now whether the deflection was intentional and purposeful. It was. Neustädter's purpose was, as already outlined, to clear the ball and disenthrall his team from a dangerous breakthrough of an opponent. Of course the direction of his clearance was not targeted in this way, as it more or less seems to have been a failed header. Therefore, a correct decision.
The next scene again concerns the first assistant referee Renato Faverani [4:02]. Another correct decision with regard to offside. Huntelaar received a well-timed ball by a teammate and appeared in front of the goalkeeper, and surely had too much time to think about how to score...
Starting from [4:31] Schalke had a dangerous goal attempt having made lots of pressure to equalize. After some confusing actions in the box, Höwedes (4) managed to produce a shot that would have reached the goal. However, Arsenal's Mertesacker jumped into the path of the ball and obviously touched the ball with his hand. Rizzoli showed no hesitation and did not point on the spot. There may not be any doubt about the fact that this hand position certainly corresponds to a natural movement, but, in fact Mertesacker enlarges his body volume, his arms and hands are widely carted out and in this case, negligence is available. Therefore, it should have been a penalty to Schalke. It is nonetheless ok that Rizzoli very likely did not consult his first additional assistant referee, that was a decision he had to take himself being in a far better position. Immediately after that [5:19], there was another critical situation when Arsenal's Arteta prevented the ball to go into the goal by moving his upper body close to the goal post. The ball reached his breast and perhaps a small part of his upper arm. In addition, the arm was very close to the body. No penalty is a correct decision.
Another excellent call was made by Nicola Rizzoli in the 61st minute [5:27]. Lukas Podolski (ARS) and Marco Höger (S04) were in a normal duel, when Höger suddenly stopped playing after having got an injury after a good sliding tackle. Podolski ignored that and did not play the ball out of the pitch to enable medical treatment for his opponent. A reasonable behaviour, as Schalke's defense was confused and Arsenal could have had a good attempt. However, no fair-play. In general, referees are not accostumed to judge whether a team applies fair-play or not, he may not be interested in this specific circumstance. Nonetheless, there had been clear instructions to the referees prior to EURO 2012 to quickly interrupt play in case of a serious injury. For Arsenal and their supporters, this might have been a fatal call, but it was a call in accordance with instructions and for the good of the game. Rizzoli was also right when issueing a yellow card for unsporting behaviour in the following, as Podolski could not veil his frustration. After that, Podolski apologized and reconciled with Rizzoli shaking each other's hand, which is unfortunately not captured by this video. By the way, Höger is still injured and cannot play today.
Another huge challenge for an assistant referee in this match, this time for Andrea Stefani, was an offside position in the 74th minute [6:43]. Two strikers were potentially able to receive the excellent ball by the Arsenal midfielder. Walcott, who was in an active offside position as you can see at [6:58], however got the ball. The deflection by a Schalke defender was in this case neither deliberate, nor purposeful. It must be ignored for this reason. Many supporters probably complaint because of the very late flag, but Stefani had to wait for the striker who gets the ball. Correct and essentiall call which is a paramount example for the concentrated and very good performances of both assistant referees.
Basis 2: Valencia CF 4:2 BATE Borisov, officiated by a Norwegian team headed by Tom Hagen
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First of all, one must outline that the Norwegian officials missed a clear violent conduct in the early stages of the match when Roberto Soldado (VAL) punched his opponent after having been slightly fouled. It was no harmless violent conduct though, it was aggressive force executed by a fisticuff into the opponent's stomach. Geir Age Holen (the fourth official) did not stand more than four or five metres away from it and saw - right - nothing.
A situation we might discuss was the penalty kick awarded by Hagen leading to the 2:0 of Valencia [0:58]. The first replay clearly shows that it was a foul by Radkov (14), but obviously in front of the box. Although it was surely very hard to detect (even for the first assistant referee Dag-Roger Nebben), it is therefore a crucial mistake, this penalty should not have been given (instead, a yellow card would have been suitable..).
Basis 3: Manchester City 2:2 Ajax Amsterdam, officiated by a Danish team headed by Peter Rasmussen
For Elite Development referee Peter Rasmussen, the last minutes of this match surely were complicated. As there is no video which covers both crucial decisions and offers an embedded link, you must follow this link and watch the last video on the page (Mc2-2Aj[M....]).
Niels Hög wrongly disallowed a goal scored by Manchester City [2:00] after their comeback from 0:2 to 2:2. The replays however show that, despite the high difficulty also regarding the high distance and tightness of this situation, it was a crucial mistake - at least if one takes the stoppage in the replay as granted. We however cannot be sure that the stoppage was correctly set, so there are still doubts. A final judgment depends on the quality of the replays at hand, as they are not available, I cannot pose a conclusion. Based on many reliable sources, there however were replays indicating that it was a correct call.
Later on, Rasmussen refused to give a penalty to Man.City when Balotelli was pulled down by a Dutch defender. After the Danish officials did not whistle the first action induced by Balotelli himself, pressing his arm and hand into the opponent's breast and throat, it should have been a penalty then solely considering the later pulling by the Dutchman. The second additional assistant referee Jakob Kehlet failed to support his chief here, too. It is by the way a strange procedure to make no signal at all (so that one can ask: did they recognize even the likelihood or opportunity that there was a foul at all?) and that Rasmussen then immediately made the final whistle. He furthermore should have booked several City players for their heavy complaints.
Basis 4: Benfica Lisbon 2:0 Spartak Moskva, officiated by a German team headed by Florian Meyer
Again, there is no suitable video showing all the necessary decisions. You may take this one as a basis ("Longer Highlights"). At [3:00], assistant referee 1 Holger Henschel wrongly disallowed a Benfica goal for alleged offside. This video does not reveal it, but I previously watched a replay indicating that it was level. Unfortunately, a crucial mistake, however with little influence.
When Benfica already leg by 2:0, Florian Meyer awarded a penalty to the Portuguese side [3:59] and sent off the Russians' defender Pareja for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity. He was by the way already booked, but Meyer made the only correct call when directly sending him off with a straight red card and not with a 2nd yellow card.
Basis 5: SC Braga 1:3 Manchester United, officiated by a German team headed by Felix Brych
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A quite extra-ordinary incident occurred within the rock faces of Braga's Estádio Municipal, when suddenly the floodlights stopped working. German official Brych directly interrupted the match for 12 minutes when the defect was finally corrected.
Concerning his performance, one must highlight his two penalty decisions. At [0:44], he definitely showed no hesitation at all when pointing at the spot when Manchester's Evans bodychecked Braga's Custodio. No doubt that the Portuguese striker surely provoked that, but all the replays show an active movement of the English defender aimed at impeding his opponent's path. A correct decision.
Later on, there was a more controversial penalty decision [1:40]. Keep in mind that there was heavy rain in Braga so that the ground was extremely wet. Rooney fell after a small contact with a Braga defender. Brych did not react at first glance, but he clearly moved to the centre of the box and looked for contact with his additional assistant referee Felix Zwayer. Then, with much delay, the whistle intoned. Sky Germany had a better video and a clearer replay showing that this penalty was at least a very soft decision. I cannot call this a crucial mistake, if the observer evaluated it as such, Felix Zwayer will be the one who's concerned, as Brych undoubtfully shifted responsibility to him. And to be honest, he was right when doing so, Zwayer actually could not have had a better view on it.
There were many other situations that were of immense relevance, e.g. a very tight offside or more likely no offside when Tarik Ongun disallowed a goal of Real Madrid in their match against Dortmund. In addition, it may not remain unmentioned that Roberto Alonso Fernández correctly disallowed a goal in Chelsea - Shakhtar Donezk. Besides, Marijo Strahonja gave a correct penalty in Olympiacos - Montpellier, while he missed a red card for serious foul play.
This analysis was therefore only a limited review of the past matchday.
Basis 2: Valencia CF 4:2 BATE Borisov, officiated by a Norwegian team headed by Tom Hagen
A situation we might discuss was the penalty kick awarded by Hagen leading to the 2:0 of Valencia [0:58]. The first replay clearly shows that it was a foul by Radkov (14), but obviously in front of the box. Although it was surely very hard to detect (even for the first assistant referee Dag-Roger Nebben), it is therefore a crucial mistake, this penalty should not have been given (instead, a yellow card would have been suitable..).
Basis 3: Manchester City 2:2 Ajax Amsterdam, officiated by a Danish team headed by Peter Rasmussen
Niels Hög wrongly disallowed a goal scored by Manchester City [2:00] after their comeback from 0:2 to 2:2. The replays however show that, despite the high difficulty also regarding the high distance and tightness of this situation, it was a crucial mistake - at least if one takes the stoppage in the replay as granted. We however cannot be sure that the stoppage was correctly set, so there are still doubts. A final judgment depends on the quality of the replays at hand, as they are not available, I cannot pose a conclusion. Based on many reliable sources, there however were replays indicating that it was a correct call.
Later on, Rasmussen refused to give a penalty to Man.City when Balotelli was pulled down by a Dutch defender. After the Danish officials did not whistle the first action induced by Balotelli himself, pressing his arm and hand into the opponent's breast and throat, it should have been a penalty then solely considering the later pulling by the Dutchman. The second additional assistant referee Jakob Kehlet failed to support his chief here, too. It is by the way a strange procedure to make no signal at all (so that one can ask: did they recognize even the likelihood or opportunity that there was a foul at all?) and that Rasmussen then immediately made the final whistle. He furthermore should have booked several City players for their heavy complaints.
Basis 4: Benfica Lisbon 2:0 Spartak Moskva, officiated by a German team headed by Florian Meyer
When Benfica already leg by 2:0, Florian Meyer awarded a penalty to the Portuguese side [3:59] and sent off the Russians' defender Pareja for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity. He was by the way already booked, but Meyer made the only correct call when directly sending him off with a straight red card and not with a 2nd yellow card.
Basis 5: SC Braga 1:3 Manchester United, officiated by a German team headed by Felix Brych
Concerning his performance, one must highlight his two penalty decisions. At [0:44], he definitely showed no hesitation at all when pointing at the spot when Manchester's Evans bodychecked Braga's Custodio. No doubt that the Portuguese striker surely provoked that, but all the replays show an active movement of the English defender aimed at impeding his opponent's path. A correct decision.
Later on, there was a more controversial penalty decision [1:40]. Keep in mind that there was heavy rain in Braga so that the ground was extremely wet. Rooney fell after a small contact with a Braga defender. Brych did not react at first glance, but he clearly moved to the centre of the box and looked for contact with his additional assistant referee Felix Zwayer. Then, with much delay, the whistle intoned. Sky Germany had a better video and a clearer replay showing that this penalty was at least a very soft decision. I cannot call this a crucial mistake, if the observer evaluated it as such, Felix Zwayer will be the one who's concerned, as Brych undoubtfully shifted responsibility to him. And to be honest, he was right when doing so, Zwayer actually could not have had a better view on it.
There were many other situations that were of immense relevance, e.g. a very tight offside or more likely no offside when Tarik Ongun disallowed a goal of Real Madrid in their match against Dortmund. In addition, it may not remain unmentioned that Roberto Alonso Fernández correctly disallowed a goal in Chelsea - Shakhtar Donezk. Besides, Marijo Strahonja gave a correct penalty in Olympiacos - Montpellier, while he missed a red card for serious foul play.
This analysis was therefore only a limited review of the past matchday.
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