It must suck to be an Italian referee not named Nicola Rizzoli. He basically owns that league, and whenever there’s a big match, he’s pretty much like: “All your base are belong to us!”. Little dude’s not into sharing.* No other referee is really going to have a legitimate shot at anything cool until Rizzoli retires or gets the measles. In the meantime,
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Update, April 24: Ramires has accepted an FA charge of violent misconduct, and received a four-game ban with immediate effect. After what seemed like an extraordinary amount of time, FA has finally charged Jose Mourinho, assistant coach Rui Faria (both, above) and midfielder Ramires for their behaviors on April 19 against Sunderland. Ramires has been charged with violent misconduct for hitting Seb Larsson
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The biggest game of the week is undoubtedly Liverpool v. Chelsea. Martin Atkinson (above) is up in the rotation for that one. Hopefully, foaming madman assistant coach Rui Faria will be suspended by then, so Atkinson doesn’t have to hire a bodyguard. Chris Foy, who took a Jonjo Shelvey deflection in the face last weekend, will be fourth official at Fulham
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The Europa League semifinal referees for the first leg are Damir Skomina and Cuneyt Cakir. This is a pretty good appointment. The Slovenian, Skomina, has advanced through the ranks quickly, and was a candidate for Brazil. He didn’t make it, but that was partly down to his team. He’s a good referee who should be able to handle the heat
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Here’s yet another entry in the “Referees are tougher than you” category. Which has actually been pretty empty. Until now. Chris Foy was just minding his own business, enjoying refereeing the first minute of the Newcastle v. Swansea match. Then Jonjo Shelvey hit a powerhouse which bounced off Fabricio Coloccini and … bam. Right in the face. Newcastle’s unpleasant fans laughed heartily
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How awesome is this?! My imaginary boyfriend, Lee Probert, has been given the FA Cup Final between Arsenal and Hull City at Wembley on May 17. Look how sweet he is: “The first person I thought about was my dad who I lost six years ago. He was always there to support me throughout my career and it’s payback for
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England’s Top Dog, Howard Webb will referee the first leg of the Real Madrid v. Bayern Munich semifinal on Wednesday, April 23. Regular readers know that I think Webb, despite his experience and the fact that he already has his ticket to Brazil, isn’t England’s best referee anymore. That honour now goes to Mark Clattenburg, while Webb has visibly struggled
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The Atletico Madrid v. Chelsea Champions League semifinal will be officiated by The Big Swede: Jonas Eriksson. Eriksson has been very active in European action this season. In addition to some Europa league matches (including Tottenham’s), he refereed Manchester City v. Barcelona in the Group of 16 and Bayern Munich v. Manchester United in the quarterfinals. He’s performed pretty well in
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Poor Mike Dean. What a day he had at Stamford Bridge. First there was Ramires punching Seb Larsson in the face (which Dean actually missed, but has no doubt seen by now) and then this. Cesar Azpilicueta did his best, but got outfoxed by Jozy Altidore in the box. Dean correctly called the penalty, which Liverpool loanee Fabio Borini stepped
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Ramires is a dirty player. I get that. He’s got a temper on him, as well. (See: Mark Clattenburg.) I sort of get that, too. But you can not hit a player in the face. Not even Sebastian Larsson, whom I realize is kind of a c—. You just can’t. There’s no reason in the world you can give me to excuse why
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 