Arsenal V Barcelona

[Jam-Fly 8]

20euro on Arsenal @9-1come on you gunners

[Filesharer 0]

**** off.Come on Barca!

[fatman 1]

20euro on Arsenal @9-1come on you gunners

As much as I hate Arsenal, I gotta go for the English side. Gunners win Champions league, Boro wins Eufa Cup.

[Jadaki 0]

Cheering for Arsenal

[DonkSlayer 1]

I like Barca and Boro.I don't like Barca and Boro, but if I was betting...

[rkard 0]

**** off.Come on Barca!

Being bitter eh? CONGRATS ON 5TH PLACE BUDDY!!!

[The Czar 0]

Henry is too much. At least my wallet hopes so.

[Filesharer 0]

Being bitter eh? CONGRATS ON 5TH PLACE BUDDY!!!

Yes I'm extremely bitter. Sick to the stomach you might say.

[rkard 0]

Yes I'm extremely bitter. Sick to the stomach you might say.

I hear the Tottenham chairman is pleading for a rematch with the fa. I say give them one... if Arsenal beat Barca! I don't want to be a West Ham supporter for more than a day.

[Verdimme 0]

Don't know. I'd love to see Bergkamp scoring the winner for Arsenal..but Barcelona has got a an amazing team aswell.I'm just looking forward to a great match.

[The Czar 0]

I just laid $150 on Arsenal at 3.33:1, so I certainly would like to see Bergkamp knock home the winner. (Or anyone else for that matter)

[Verdimme 0]

I just laid $150 on Arsenal at 3.33:1, so I certainly would like to see Bergkamp knock home the winner. (Or anyone else for that matter)

Would be a brilliant ending of a brilliant career.

[fatman 1]

Arsenal got screwed. That was the same official that gave Del Horno of Chelsea a red card during their match with Barca. I think he could have waited a minute to blow his whistle and allow the goal instead of red carding Lehman. That would have been a classic if it stayed 11v11 the entire match.

[Guest Guest]

hard to say what would have happened. I was torn between the USA way of a best of 5 or 7 series after that match becasue I felt like it could have been better.

[The Czar 0]

me above...again

[Filesharer 0]

Arsenal got screwed. That was the same official that gave Del Horno of Chelsea a red card during their match with Barca. I think he could have waited a minute to blow his whistle and allow the goal instead of red carding Lehman. That would have been a classic if it stayed 11v11 the entire match.

Not true. The mistake the ref made was not allowing the goal and sending off Lehman. Then Arsenal would have had to chase the game and they would have been torn apart. Also, Eboue's dive for the free kick from which Campbell scored was comical. He was a bad ref, but he was equally poor to both sides.

[Canada 0]

He was a bad ref, but he was equally poor to both sides.

Very true. As much as I was gutted to see the Gunners go down, it was a brilliant game spoiled only by some disgusting decisions. However I don't think the ref cost Arsenal the game.

[fatman 1]

Not true. The mistake the ref made was not allowing the goal and sending off Lehman.

This is what I meant. He should have waited a few seconds to see what happened with the ball. Immediately when Et'o went down the ref blew the whistle instead of waiting to see what happened. Sure if he allowed the goal Arsenal would have had to chase the game but the way they were taking it to Barcelona up until that point there is no question they would have tied the game up before halftime.By the way, I absolutely can't stand the announcers on ESPN. Tommy Smythe is an idiot who has no clue about the game.

[DonkSlayer 1]

My 2 cents, as a senior USSF Soccer Official (a-hem):The reason the referee got it wrong on the Lehman incident is because he wasn't wide enough to see the play developing behind the incident. Referee was too sucked into the play, thinking he was "right on top of it." From his position, it looked like a no-brainer, but this is Champions-league speed gameplay here. Ref should've been more wide and a little more shallow behind the ball.Shoulda-been: Referee pauses, goal is scored, Lehmann booked for unsporting behavior.Will be very interesting to see who gets the WC final now that this ref didn't have a particularly strong game. Markus Merck was the other favorite (From Germany), but his game between Barca and AC Milan wasn't particularly strong either.

[Filesharer 0]

My 2 cents, as a senior USSF Soccer Official (a-hem):The reason the referee got it wrong on the Lehman incident is because he wasn't wide enough to see the play developing behind the incident. Referee was too sucked into the play, thinking he was "right on top of it." From his position, it looked like a no-brainer, but this is Champions-league speed gameplay here. Ref should've been more wide and a little more shallow behind the ball.Shoulda-been: Referee pauses, goal is scored, Lehmann booked for unsporting behavior.Will be very interesting to see who gets the WC final now that this ref didn't have a particularly strong game. Markus Merck was the other favorite (From Germany), but his game between Barca and AC Milan wasn't particularly strong either.

So the law says that the keeper isn't sent off if they score anyway, despite his professional foul? That would change things somewhat.Oh btw, the commentators on RTE were saying that the ref isn't even going to the World Cup. Pretty hilarious that he gets the CL final.

[DonkSlayer 1]

So the law says that the keeper isn't sent off if they score anyway, despite his professional foul? That would change things somewhat.Oh btw, the commentators on RTE were saying that the ref isn't even going to the World Cup. Pretty hilarious that he gets the CL final.

Yeah, I saw the one about him not going to the WC as well. Weird, but the selection process for that is very political, and you have referees going from Madagascar but not those from European countries that do CL finals.The red card is for "Denying an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity", in this case by a foul. This is also the case if the keeper saves a shot with his hands outside of the box with no one behind him, or a field player makes a save with his hand/s. The hands is "DGH" (deny goal. opp. w/ hand) and the foul, like Lehmann committed, was "DGF" (opp. w/foul). Note that, while it almost never happens, you can get sent off for an indirect free kick foul as well, one that would not award a penalty kick in the box but nevertheless would cause the offender to be sent off. Most cases it has to do with impeding/interfering with the opponent; i.e. you scream in his ear while he's shooting at an empty net, or dive dangerously between him and the ball, allowing someone to catch up to defend and thus deny the goal.If the goal is still scored, Lehmann has not successfully denied the goalscoring opportunity. He is cautioned for unsporting behavior (intentional foul with the purpose of fouling) and the goal stands.