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[distancetraveller]

The happiest people who come out of this (apart from the Barca players / fans) will be Platini and Blatter now that their isnt going to be an all British final. which they both dreaded.

If your looking for skulduggery into last nights game then you need look no further than the two people mentioned above.......... Oxygen thieves the pair of them..

[fuertes]

I hate Chelsea and I'm glad they're out. The ref was diabolical, but despite that, he clearly wasn't cheating. The guy just lost his head in a high-pressure match. After all, he sent a Barca player off for breathing on Anelka when another player was covering anyway.

Chelsea are correct when they say the ref made several mistakes, however Drogba consistently tries to force refs into making mistakes by diving around. As for the handball claims, didn't that last incident remind you of someone? Oh yeah, that f**king cheat John Terry.

No sympathy. At least now two great football clubs with great players will contest the final rather than that horrible club full of dirty cheats. Russian billionaire's playthings don't deserve to win owt in my opinion.

[fuertes]

The happiest people who come out of this (apart from the Barca players / fans) will be Platini and Blatter now that their isnt going to be an all British final. which they both dreaded.

If your looking for skulduggery into last nights game then you need look no further than the two people mentioned above.......... Oxygen thieves the pair of them..

On that point, I have to say that whilst Blatter is a prick, I actually have a lot of time for Platini. Not only did he actually play the game, but a lot of his points are eminently sensible. The reason people get on his back is Platini's good ideas tend to go against their interests.

A) He wants something done to stop teams with literally hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt dominating the European game. Seems reasonable to me. Obviously United (who I follow) and Liverpool aren't going to like it, but the way ownership/debt works in the English game is ludicrous.
B) He wants to make it easier for champions of medium and small leagues to make it into the Champions League. Spot on. Champions in places like Scotland, Belgium and Poland are more deserving than the team that finished fourth, sometimes 30 points off the pace, in England or Spain. Arsenal clearly feel that finishing above Aston Villa is reason enough to be entered into Europe's premier competition, but real champions should get the chance in my opinion.

[JTH]

No referee at this level could possibly be that bad. I have always believed the game was fair. Now i am sure match fixing does happen.
[/quote]

So what you're saying is:-

Platini & Blatter overherad in Geneva this week: "Right, we'll fix this game by getting the team we want to go through, who are losing at the time, down to 10 men for the last quarter of the game". Sepp Blatter is capable of many things, but even he wouldn't come up with a plan of such monumental nit-wittery.

[baldrick]

So what you're saying is:-

Platini & Blatter overherad in Geneva this week: "Right, we'll fix this game by getting the team we want to go through, who are losing at the time, down to 10 men for the last quarter of the game". Sepp Blatter is capable of many things, but even he wouldn't come up with a plan of such monumental nit-wittery.

I was following the game on Betfair. Five minutes before Barcelona scored the 1-1 draw dropped from 11-1 to 6-1. I laid off some of my potential winnings by laying Chelsea at 1-5 and i made a profit of about £60. I am conviinced it was fixed. No referee is that useless, and what happened to the linesmen? Were they deaf dumb and blind too?

[JTH]

Sorry Balders, nothing the ref did in the last 5 mins before the equaliser could constitute fixing. Surely the odds dropped on a draw after 85 mins because if Barca scored there would be less time for a winner for either side. Still, nice one on the £60.

[Altyroo]

Whats all this about match fixing and bad refereeing. I thought the ref played a blinder. Chelsea got beat didnt they.         

[RedWhiteRedWhite]

Sorry Balders, nothing the ref did in the last 5 mins before the equaliser could constitute fixing. Surely the odds dropped on a draw after 85 mins because if Barca scored there would be less time for a winner for either side. Still, nice one on the £60.

We also have to remember that it was Essien who scuffed his clearance when going for the ball with the wrong foot...prior to Messi setting Iniesta up. Surely we can't conceive Essien did this on purpose?! Like the bloke said about conference stuff recently..."All 22 players would have had to have been in on it...impossible".

[Ballers]

Iniesta's goal was a great strike, not sure how the ref could be in on that!

[RockyRobin]

For me Ballack shoud be given the biggest repremand, he was barging the ref like a school yard bully.

Why do the refs put up with it, the lad ran away from him. He should have "stood his ground" and when Ballack chested him he could just give him a straight red.

[samba]

For me Ballack shoud be given the biggest repremand, he was barging the ref like a school yard bully.

Why do the refs put up with it, the lad ran away from him. He should have "stood his ground" and when Ballack chested him he could just give him a straight red.

Absolute 100% agree.  Whilst I think chelski were hard done by, chasing after the ref and screaming him down should not be allowed.  The ref should be respected, and whilst I agree the ref was gash, he should've stood his ground and as you say, sent ballack off.

Re: Drogba, and Ronaldo, and the rest.  Any player that dives or clearly pretends to be injured should be given retrospective red cards based on video evidence.  Disgrace.

[Mick]

B) He wants to make it easier for champions of medium and small leagues to make it into the Champions League. Spot on. Champions in places like Scotland, Belgium and Poland are more deserving than the team that finished fourth, sometimes 30 points off the pace, in England or Spain. Arsenal clearly feel that finishing above Aston Villa is reason enough to be entered into Europe's premier competition, but real champions should get the chance in my opinion.

It's a tricky one this.............yes I agree, lets give the champion clubs from so called lesser footballing countries a good chance to progress, it is only fair.
But then again why should such a club benefit just from playing in a poor league. For example why should the champions of Malta get to compete with Real Madrid just because they are champions of what would be considered to be a poor league. It's like letting the champions of Cheshire directly into the 4th round of the FA cup ( a great idea !)

I think the current system is fair . The champions of Malta play the champions of the Faroe Islands for the chance to play the champions of Latvia, with the winners playing the champions of Greece for a place in the group games with AC Milan, Chelski, etc

[Aussie Bob]

Touching the referee should be outlawed and only the captain can question refs decisions , it works in aussie rules and rugby. Touch the ref you are in for a retrospective ban or send off.Drogba and Ballack are a disgrace...should be banned from europe for a minimum of next years group stages and fined heavily.
The ref was crap fair enough ...Barca were turned down a blatant penalty in the first leg as well there as no outcry ? Hiddink played for the 1-0 even when he was against 10 men , Drogba couldnt score from open play , they got the sucker punch at the end when Barca equalised from crap defending. Sorry Chelsea your behaviour during and after the game lost any sympathy i had for you ...suck it in.

[baldrick]

Touching the referee should be outlawed and only the captain can question refs decisions , it works in aussie rules and rugby. Touch the ref you are in for a retrospective ban or send off.Drogba and Ballack are a disgrace...should be banned from europe for a minimum of next years group stages and fined heavily.
The ref was crap fair enough ...Barca were turned down a blatant penalty in the first leg as well there as no outcry ? Hiddink played for the 1-0 even when he was against 10 men , Drogba couldnt score from open play , they got the sucker punch at the end when Barca equalised from crap defending. Sorry Chelsea your behaviour during and after the game lost any sympathy i had for you ...suck it in.

But the Chelsea captain is John Terry