A few hours after Arsenal’s exit from Europe’s finest football competition, I wish to express a quick thought on the way Arsene Wenger’s team gave up on their title dreams at Camp Nou in such a controversial way.
First of all I will not hide my sympathy for the North London club, but as an experienced journalist I tend to pretend that objectivity is part of my repertoire, so here is my quick analysis on the referee’s decision that changed the game, while the score was 1-1 and the Londoners were back on track.
Something is obvious: Barcelona are a better team than the Gunners. Some will say a much better team after checking out the incredible statistics of the game: Arsenal did not have any attempt on Victor Valdes’ goal (the effort they scored was an own-goal from Busquets), besides I am not even speaking about ball possesion. That is a fact, and Rafa “fact” Benitez will surely agree with me.
But the beautiful game, and even more cup football is all about what happens on the pitch on D-day and without Robin van Persie’s dramatic sending off for a second yellow card, the outcome could/would have been way different.
“I didn’t hear the whistle!”
How could you accuse the Dutchman of time-wasting, after he fired the ball off target from an off-side position, pretending he did not hear the referee’s whistle?
Obviously, the World Cup runner-up DID NOT HEAR the man in white’s whistle and just tried to hit the back of the net from a tight angle. Does he have the reputation of being a cheater? I do not think so. Is it fair to think that in such a crowed stadium (95,000 fans attended the game) sometimes you cannot hear the ref. Probably.
And finally regarding the red card, do you think that such a talented player - who has been playing Champions League football for so many years and who even started a World Cup final - will risk to be sent off in such a naïve way? No comment.
Then being reduced to ten men at this point of the game, playing away, already on the back foot and when your legs start to show signs of tiredness is almost a death sentence.
Dear Massimo Busacca, to my mind you wasted a promising game and massively influenced its outcome. Can you look at yourself in the mirror today?
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