Well… Sort of. But not really. The good news: Manchester City’s Manuel Pellegrini, under threat of sanctions from UEFA, apologized to Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson for – among other things – calling him a Swede. The bad news is that it’s pretty clear that Pellegrini isn’t apologizing at all. He starts out by reiterating that Eriksson’s penalty call (which came
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Well, well… Just when I was readying the torches and pitchforks after Manuel Pellegrini blamed Manchester City’s loss on Sweden, Martin Demichelis comes out with this: I think Demichelis was put in an impossible position, and he’s just not strong enough to cover Lionel Messi. But I do admire him for accepting responsibility and not taking the child’s way out
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I should do a serious post about how Manuel Pelligrini’s unprecedented attack on Jonas Eriksson can’t go unpunished. (And by serious, I mean one that sadly does not include the word asshattery.) I should examine the virtual bloodbath of red cards in just two days’ worth of Champions League matches. I should talk about what should happen to Arsenal’s Goalkeeper
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These are outdated appointments. Always check “Latest Appointments” on the sidebar for updated referee appointments. Here are the Premier League referees for the weekend of February 22 and 23. Probably the biggest match will be on Saturday; Chelsea is fighting for the title and Everton is fighting for Champions League, so Lee Probert (above) will have his work cut out
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Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City side lost their Champions League tie to Barcelona today, 0-2, in case you were hiding under a rock all day. One of the key factors (though certainly not the only one) was the penalty awarded to Barcelona just after halftime when Martin Demichelis took down Lionel Messi at the edge of the area. Replays showed it
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The referees for this week’s Europa League matches are finally out, and there are lots of new faces! Couple of interesting notes: England’s Martin Atkinson will referee Dynamo Kyiv v. Valencia, making him the only English referee to have a European match so far. Howard Webb and Mark Clattenburg have to still be in the running for Champions League matches
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Well, well. It seems that the four upcoming Champions League matches this week (February 18 and 19) are a showcase for the Gods of Refereeing. You can’t get much better than this week’s choices. On Tuesday, there’s Jonas Eriksson of Sweden and Viktor Kassai of Hungary, both consistently excellent referees. On Wednesday, you have: Yes, that’s right, Mr. Smooth is
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I always know I’m in for a treat when I come home from the movies, check my blog’s stats and find the search term: “Is Howard Webb a cheat?” This is obviously about the Arsenal v. Liverpool match in the FA Cup Fifth Round. Webb was the referee, and he had plenty to deal with, including Raheem Sterling pushing him
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Here are the referees for the first two matches of the Last 16 round of Champions League. These matches will be played Tuesday, February 18. So Jonas Eriksson (above) takes Manchester City v. Barcelona. Eriksson is actually one of my favorites. The Big Swede is always very calm and in command at the same time…the kind of guy you want on your side
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It feels like forever, but it’s finally time for Champions League football again! This seems like a good time to talk about how the referees are chosen by UEFA not only for Champions League, but for Europa League, as well. First of all, just like the clubs want to get into the Champions League, the top referees really want these appointments.
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