Wednesday, April 02, 2014

Moaning Bayern get a taste of their own medicine as Schweinsteiger sees red...

When it comes to being on the wrong end of bad decisions in the Champions League, Manchester United know all about that. A dreadful Turkish referee wrongly sent-off Nani last season when United met Real Madrid - that decision was so bad, one has to wonder if foul play was at work - because the decision to send-off Nani had nothing to do with football, but it led to United being dumped out of the competition.

The same thing happened two years ago, when Frank Ribery conned the referee with his 'dying man act' on the Old Trafford turf; on that occasion, it was hapless Rafael who saw red and once again a beleaguered United defence eventually caved in under the weight of numbers.

 So pardon me for not being too upset when Schweinsteiger got his marching orders after receiving his second yellow card in last night's Champions League quarter final. Rooney had jumped over the challenge of Schweinsteiger, but in so doing he did a 'Ribery like' stunt-man roll. It should not have been a booking and once again the referee played a potentially significant part in a Champions League tie.

 The first leg of what looked on paper at least anyway to be a proverbial bye for the German champions, ended in a 1-1 stalemate. IT could have been so different if Danny Welbeck had taken one glorious first-half chance after being set free by Rooney, but he didn't. Welbeck, had a perfectly good goal wrongly disallowed early in the game because the referee deemed his boot to be too high when he had initially brought the ball under control. The fact is, Welbeck's boot never touched Martinez - it wasn't a rash challenge; Welbeck had exhibited a fair amount of skill when beating a couple of Bayern defenders with his spinning turn, before lashing home a right-foot half-volley from the edge of the Bayern penalty area. But once again, United were on the wrong end of bad decision making by yet another poor referee. A moment of skill and what should have been a good goal was ruined by incompetent refereeing. United will in all probability go on to lose the tie next week in Germany. At least on this occasion Bayern have something to moan about.

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