Barca v Arsenal officials from Switzerland

Bungling referee Massimo Busacca makes it easier for Barcelona masters
By MARTIN SAMUEL
Reporting from Barcelona
Last updated at 12:22 PM on 9th March 2011
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Look, we know who the best team was. It was Barcelona in the Nou Camp, for heaven’s sake. It barely goes without saying which team played the best football, had the most possession, scored the best goal, enjoyed a veritable landslide of chances.
It would make a refreshing change, though, if just once, Barcelona could win this tournament without being set on their way by the obliging incompetence of a match official.
For the clueless Tom Henning Ovrebo against Chelsea in 2009, read the merciless Massimo Busacca of Switzerland in 2011. If there is a crumb of consolation it is that it is likely Barcelona would have won anyway. They are a better team than Arsenal and, over two legs and three hours, that much has been obvious.
Yet at the time Busacca made a decision that effectively swung the match beyond redemption in Barcelona’s favour, the score was tied at 1-1 and, on aggregate, Arsenal were going through.

Hear, hear: Robin van Persie appeals to referee Massimo Busacca in vain
Robin van Persie had already been booked for a foolish moment involving minimal contact with Barcelona’s prime irritant, Daniel Alves, but when he ran through on goal and was flagged for offside in the 55th minute, nobody could have conceived the impact of such a peripheral event.
Offside was the correct call, but it was close. Thinking he had sprung the trap, the Dutchman took one further stride and slashed at a shot that went forlornly wide.
That should have been the clue. The poor execution was evidence of pressure on a man who was still trying to win the game. That would not have been there if he was just trying to kill a few seconds.
In his panicked finish, Van Persie gave every impression of not having heard the whistle. He appeared to think the play was live; and at least he warranted benefit of the doubt, considering the ball came off the hoardings and back into the hands of goalkeeper Victor Valdes with barely a moment wasted.
So here is the key. For those recently landed from space or awakened from a vegetative state, the Nou Camp is a pretty big place. Noisy, too. Lots of singing, lots of Catalans with percussion, it is a huge cacophonous bowl of a stadium in which a lone chap with a whistle might struggle to make his presence felt, aurally.

Nou Camp fire: With Arsenal star Jack Wilshere on the ground injured, the Swiss official is hard pressed to keep order in a first half melee
So Busacca, who is not without experience in this area, should perhaps have taken these factors into consideration before doing anything rash: like sending off Van Persie and handing an unassailable advantage to Barcelona.
Not one bit. Instead, he reached the immediate and incontrovertible conclusion that Van Persie had, as they say in north London, cocked a deaf ’un, and brandished a yellow card. His second.
And that was it. Game over. It turns out it does not matter how many extra officials UEFA supply to stand around the pitch looking attentive if the man in the middle is a steaming great pillock with no feel for the occasion.
Busacca killed the game, and left it with only one imaginable outcome. Arsenal had little option but to attempt desperate survival with banks of four and five and no target
man and the game followed the most predictable course.
Barcelona attacked, in wave after wave, like the tribesmen in the film Zulu, and Arsenal cleared, regrouped and prepared to repel the next batch, abandoning all hope of scoring a second.
Arsenal are no Inter Milan, however — the Italians survived here under Jose Mourinho with 10 men in last year's semi-final, although they were nursing a two goal advantage — and Barcelona are too good to fail a second time. Parity was never going to be enough.
Heroic defending followed but, first, Xavi scored to level the aggregate, then Lionel Messi won the game from the spot.


Throat and nose job: Andrey Arshavin clashes with Andres Iniesta (left) and Eric Abidal menacingly grabs Van Persie
No one can deny the best team have progressed; just that sometimes it would be nice if they were left to their own devices in doing so. Because they would get through, surely.
Instead, Arsenal were left smarting at the injustice, rather than acknowledging the wonder of Messi’s first goal or Barcelona’s sublime philosophy, which is like theirs, just better.
Both teams play what is termed the beautiful game, but Barcelona’s money and a fortuitous crop of exceptional youngsters have refined it, taking it to new levels. Barcelona have always instilled the finest habits and motives in young players, but the break for coach Josep Guardiola is that so many exceptionally gifted individuals have arrived at once, as they did for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United more than a decade ago.
This would make them hard to live with in any circumstances, but given all the rotten breaks that Arsenal endured last night it became impossible.
The loss of goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny to a freak finger injury in the first half was a setback, although his replacement Manuel Almunia acquitted himself well, and a steady accumulation of yellow cards in the first half, some more justified than others, made physical competition difficult.
Arsenal got one stroke of luck when Sergio Busquets headed into his own net for the equaliser but after that they were not level with 11 men in play for long enough, less than three minutes.

The little master: Lionel Messi bamboozles Manuel Almunia with a stroke of genius
Nerves had no time to set in among the home players before Van Persie was dismissed and, after that, the belief inside the stadium was unshakeable. The locals knew it was a matter of time, and they were right.
It was left to Messi to underscore the difference between the teams with a first goal that makes it hard to begrudge Barcelona’s continued place in the competition, even if certain elements leave the bitterest taste.
Set up by Andres Iniesta — and a fateful, unnecessary back-heel by Cesc Fabregas made blind in a dangerous area, a mistake so stupid it beggars belief — Messi was left with only Almunia to beat. He drew the challenge, waited for the Spaniard to go to ground, and dinked the ball over him, before meeting it on the other side to volley home.
It was a moment of skill so audacious that one had to watch the replay to confirm that the eyes had seen correctly.
This is what should have been celebrated on Tuesday night; a unique talent, pushing the boundaries of possibility. Instead, we are in familiar territory. Where does UEFA get these officials from? They must grow them on farms.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1364362/Martin-Samuel-Bungling-referee-Massimo-Busacca-makes-easier-Barcelona-masters.html#ixzz1G6gefJVh

It would make a refreshing change, though, if just once, Barcelona could win this tournament without being set on their way by the obliging incompetence of a match official.

menalawyerguy wrote:

It would make a refreshing change, though, if just once, Barcelona could win this tournament without being set on their way by the obliging incompetence of a match official.

And what about Messi's incorrectly disallowed goal in the first leg? Was that another example of Barcelona benefitting from the obliging incompetence of the match official?

menalawyerguy wrote:

It would make a refreshing change, though, if just once, Barcelona could win this tournament without being set on their way by the obliging incompetence of a match official.

And what about Messi's incorrectly disallowed goal in the first leg? Was that another example of Barcelona benefitting from the obliging incompetence of the match official?

Fine Shagger wrote:Arsenal fans are acting embarrassing here. 3rd year in a row Barca have had matches rewritten in peoples minds in regards to referee decisions too.

Mal wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:Arsenal fans are acting embarrassing here. 3rd year in a row Barca have had matches rewritten in peoples minds in regards to referee decisions too.

Thread was made by a Hull fan.

Mal wrote:So who's acting embarrassing?

EdinsonCavani wrote:2006 - Arsenal down to 10 men instead of being 1 - 0 down with 11 men
2009 - Rob chelsea and go on to win it
2011 - Rob arsenal and ....
So the third champions league in a row Everytime they cheat they win it

moscowmadeit3 wrote:

EdinsonCavani wrote:2006 - Arsenal down to 10 men instead of being 1 - 0 down with 11 men
2009 - Rob chelsea and go on to win it
2011 - Rob arsenal and ....
So the third champions league in a row Everytime they cheat they win it

It was a red card in 2006 though and rightly sent off.

Fine Shagger wrote:

Mal wrote:So who's acting embarrassing?

In this thread The-Reporter, in other threads you and a stack of other Arsenal fans.

Mal wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:

Mal wrote:So who's acting embarrassing?

In this thread The-Reporter, in other threads you and a stack of other Arsenal fans.

All just speaking the truth.

Fine Shagger wrote:

Mal wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:

Mal wrote:So who's acting embarrassing?

In this thread The-Reporter, in other threads you and a stack of other Arsenal fans.

All just speaking the truth.

Aye you always speak the truth don't you?

"Wenger never risks unfit players"

Fabregas injured after 15 mins

Fine Shagger wrote:

Mal wrote:

Fine Shagger wrote:

Mal wrote:So who's acting embarrassing?

In this thread The-Reporter, in other threads you and a stack of other Arsenal fans.

All just speaking the truth.

Aye you always speak the truth don't you?

"Wenger never risks unfit players"

Fabregas injured after 15 mins