Are Barcelona being supported by officials?

[A. J. Crowley]

I'm pretty sure Barca fans will say no and Real fans will say yes, but I'm pretty curious to see where neutral observers stand

 

[Romarinho]

It happens as the refs are human and have so much pressure put on them

the way they rush the ref is a disgrace and personally i would give every player a yellow card except the captain

some of the antics they pull are just too much and they should be punished for this

BUT if barca didnt play like this then the team would not cope aswell with the physical side of the game they use this to overcome that issue

Prediction for final

Man united will have a man sent off (scholes vidic or rafael if they play)

 

[Vanjagl]

There's no need for this thread, already had 3.

 

[curtis290]

Yeah please close this. RM had a legitimate goal called back in the second leg, and Pepe's red was questionable in the first. To agree with Mourinho that there is a systematic bias in favor of Barcelona is absolutely ludicrous, not to mention we've spent pages talking about it. It's funny, last weekend Chelsea gets two blatant non-goals called as goals, far greater help than Barca got over these two legs, yet there isn't a fraction of the uproar.

 

[Shaneckham]

Barcelona get well looked after, I'm a Chelsea fan and I will never forget the 3 pens we had turned down. Cheated and robbed by refs, plattini needs a slap, he don't like the English league dominating, so if your a man u fan I wouldn't be surprised if u get mugged by the officials! Still give credit to barca they are world class, and I don't doubt they will wipe the floor with man u. They just need to stop throwing them selves to the floor like they have been shot, and waving the card signs around, if and English club was doing it they would probaly get booked for trying to influence the ref. I thought that was a rule? I might be wrong.

 

[curtis290]

Barcelona get well looked after, I'm a Chelsea fan and I will never forget the 3 pens we had turned down. Cheated and robbed by refs, plattini needs a slap, he don't like the English league dominating, so if your a man u fan I wouldn't be surprised if u get mugged by the officials! Still give credit to barca they are world class, and I don't doubt they will wipe the floor with man u. They just need to stop throwing them selves to the floor like they have been shot, and waving the card signs around, if and English club was doing it they would probaly get booked for trying to influence the ref. I thought that was a rule? I might be wrong.

How about when Anelka took a dive that game, reducing Barca to 10 men? Or the goal that was wrongly called back for being offsides in the first half? I agree that one of the tackles and one of the handballs could have gone either way, but honestly I don't think there was enough for Chelsea to seriously complain about that game.

The fact of the matter is that the reffing is often inaccurate and bad calls are made that have a big influence on the game. The big teams in any league generally are favored by officiating, but I don't think you can claim this happens in the Champions League. There are calls that go for you and calls that go against you. Goal.com had a good piece on all of the calls that have gone Mourinho's way in the Champions League over the years, and I think he does a good job of proving the point that it goes both ways. Scholes 2004, Abidal 2009, Milito 2010

 

[Athe~]

Yes they are being helped by the ref, and it's all Unicef's fault. It's a conspiracy, I tell you. Michael Moore is already filming.

 

[Shaneckham]

How about when Anelka took a dive that game, reducing Barca to 10 men? Or the goal that was wrongly called back for being offsides in the first half? I agree that one of the tackles and one of the handballs could have gone either way, but honestly I don't think there was enough for Chelsea to seriously complain about that game.

The fact of the matter is that the reffing is often inaccurate and bad calls are made that have a big influence on the game. The big teams in any league generally are favored by officiating, but I don't think you can claim this happens in the Champions League. There are calls that go for you and calls that go against you. Goal.com had a good piece on all of the calls that have gone Mourinho's way in the Champions League over the years, and I think he does a good job of proving the point that it goes both ways. Scholes 2004, Abidal 2009, Milito 2010

Arsenal had a player sent off for nothing, then real Madrid in the first leg, then in the second leg get a goal disallowed so that's 3 poor decisions in their last 3 matches, and thats just mistakes then is it a bit to often for my liking. I agree that everyone has their luck but barca seem get theirs paving the way to the final.

 

[sunilvk7]

I dont think they are supported by officials. Just that Refs lack balls to give big decisions and Barca players are professionally trained on how to cheat and roll on the floor and also hound the ref to get the decision.

Not again

 

[King Sid]

I think they are helped by the officials but not intentionally. The way I have seen Barca players behaving in the last two legs is disgraceful and gives a bad name to football. Yes they are the best footballing side in the world but there is no need for them to go down like they've been shot every time someone gets within an inch of them! It ruins the game for everyone watching it and makes the refs job even harder. Real Madrid can feel hard done by with decisions but Barca still probably deserved to win.

The Madrid goal that was ruled out last night was IMO ridiculous. When Mascherano played for Liverpool he never behaved like that and to see him of all people doing it was hugely disappointing. However Messi doesn't seem to be as bad as the rest of them, which is surprising.

 

[Athe~]

Arsenal had a player sent off for nothing, then real Madrid in the first leg, then in the second leg get a goal disallowed so that's 3 poor decisions in their last 3 matches, and thats just mistakes then is it a bit to often for my liking. I agree that everyone has their luck but barca seem get theirs paving the way to the final.

Are you conveniently forgetting how Barça had a legit goal disallowed against Arsenal?

Do people forget Inter scored a goal that shouldn't have stood last year?

Or the dive in the chelsea match that took Barça down to 10 men - and don't start the 'we should've had 5 penalties'. Not every penalty appeal means there should've been a penalty.

That's where Mourinho fails, too. He has a selective memory, just like a lot of the people that constantly blame the referees for Barça's success.

José, whose ability as a manager is not in question, conveniently forgets incidents like Scholes' disallowed goal against Porto, or the controversial red card to Jorge Andrade in the match against Depor.

One would think this would be enough evidence to illustrate the fact that referees don't help teams - they just suck - but apparently it's not.

 

[curtis290]

Arsenal had a player sent off for nothing, then real Madrid in the first leg, then in the second leg get a goal disallowed so that's 3 poor decisions in their last 3 matches, and thats just mistakes then is it a bit to often for my liking. I agree that everyone has their luck but barca seem get theirs paving the way to the final.

Van Persie clearly did it to waste time, that's undeniable. Why would he try and get the shot off so quickly on his wrong foot? If he thought play was still going he clearly would have acted completely differently, namely dribbling down the pitch and getting a good shot off. Time-wasting is a yellow-card. I agree it was harsh to send him off for it, but those are the rules.

As far as Pepe's challenge, of course Alves play-acted, but it was a red-card offense. He went in to the player studs up after going for the ball. Although replays show that Alves exaggerated it a lot, and that the contact may have been minimal, it was still an illegal offense that should have been carded, and that's how the ref is going to call it from his angle. I watched the game with a former ref who agreed.

Higuain's disallowed goal was a terrible call, I agree, but when you get one really bad call in your favor I don't think you can cry foul, especially considering that they were definitely the better team against RM, as they were against Arsenal. The amount of **** they've gotten for it is quite remarkable, people are sick of hearing how good they are so now that they behaved poorly in a couple games everyone hates them. Even though this type of stuff happens in football all of the time. Anyway, ManU will beat them in the final, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

 

[Shaneckham]

Van Persie clearly did it to waste time, that's undeniable. Why would he try and get the shot off so quickly on his wrong foot? If he thought play was still going he clearly would have acted completely differently, namely dribbling down the pitch and getting a good shot off. Time-wasting is a yellow-card. I agree it was harsh to send him off for it, but those are the rules.

As far as Pepe's challenge, of course Alves play-acted, but it was a red-card offense. He went in to the player studs up after going for the ball. Although replays show that Alves exaggerated it a lot, and that the contact may have been minimal, it was still an illegal offense that should have been carded, and that's how the ref is going to call it from his angle. I watched the game with a former ref who agreed.

Higuain's disallowed goal was a terrible call, I agree, but when you get one really bad call in your favor I don't think you can cry foul, especially considering that they were definitely the better team against RM, as they were against Arsenal. The amount of **** they've gotten for it is quite remarkable, people are sick of hearing how good they are so now that they behaved poorly in a couple games everyone hates them. Even though this type of stuff happens in football all of the time. Anyway, ManU will beat them in the final, so it doesn't really matter in the end.

Diving is a yellow yet I don't see many yellows getting handed to the barca players, everyone knows how bad they dive yet every time they do it they get away with it, which brings it back to the question are refs letting them get away with it, they dive then 10 players surround the ref flashing the the famous barca card trait. So what's happened to the yellow for diving? The yellow for the players that all circle the ref every challenge, trying to influence a booking? Seemed to be overlooked every game, I think these are the points that are frustrating everyone, no1 is questioning that they are a great side and Messi is a different class, but they cheat and rules get overlooked cause they play great football.

 

[dasty]

This is totally unnecessary IMO. Although Barcelona had been benefiting from a lot of big calls throughout the years, I would say that it was mostly due to the fact that Barcelona was one of the most loved club in the world (and Real Madrid was the complete opposite). Everyone admired the way the club was run and it wouldn't surprise me if that is what causes the referees to be slightly bias towards Barcelona. Other than that, I also believe that it was due to the tactics employed by the club. When you're hogging more than 65% of ball possession every game, calls are bound to go your way, because you're basically the only team that is doing anything on the field. Last but not least, the disgusting tactics of Barcelona to hoard around the referees to ensure decisions go their way plays a big part too (especially nowadays). The way they surround the referees was as if it was rehearsed, and I wouldn't be surprise if that was a part of their training. And let's face it, there are quite a lot of referees that are incompetent nowadays (Ovrebo, Wolfgang Stark etc). This is why people misses Collina.

And I've got a slight question regarding Barcelona's divers. Many a times had we seen calls not going Ronaldo's and Nani's way (sorry, I'm a Man Utd fan so these are the only examples that came to my mind) merely because of their reputation of trying to con the referees whenever possible. They have a reputation of diving, and they suffer from that. Strangely though, the same could not be said about Busquets, Mascherano and Dani Alves. I've got a friend that is a big fan of Barcelona and even he admits that these 3 dives in almost every game they've featured in (Mascherano being recently). But yet, whenever they goes down holding their face the referees won't hesitate to award them a freekick or sometimes even cards to their opponents. I'm guessing that Barcelona's reputation as the best side in the world currently plays a vital part.

 

[Dickybran]

If Real Madrid players/managers/fans carry on the way they did in the 1st leg of the CL then refs are going to treat them unfairly. Every time a Madrid players went down it was like they'd been kung-fu kicked. Rolling around in agony, pleading with the ref to book him. And the rest of their team and fans going mental at the ref (I thought players weren't allowed to surround the ref anymore). This happened after every challenge, and quite a few times when the Barca players hadn't done anything wrong. The amount of times di Maria went down was just embarassing, and many times when not even touched. I have no sympathy for Real Madrid whatsoever!

 

[curtis290]

Diving is a yellow yet I don't see many yellows getting handed to the barca players, everyone knows how bad they dive yet every time they do it they get away with it, which brings it back to the question are refs letting them get away with it, they dive then 10 players surround the ref flashing the the famous barca card trait. So what's happened to the yellow for diving? The yellow for the players that all circle the ref every challenge, trying to influence a booking? Seemed to be overlooked every game, I think these are the points that are frustrating everyone, no1 is questioning that they are a great side and Messi is a different class, but they cheat and rules get overlooked cause they play great football.

Because it's hard to tell when a player is diving or not. Usually it wasn't obvious until the replays. Players anywhere rarely get carded for diving unfortunately because it's too tough to tell, and you don't want to card someone for diving when they haven't.

As far as the surrounding the refs go, that's a criticism of Barca that is totally unfair. Last year it was the "typical Germans," this year it's Barca. Every team does this, they all surround the referees when calls don't go their way.

This is totally unnecessary IMO. Although Barcelona had been benefiting from a lot of big calls throughout the years, I would say that it was mostly due to the fact that Barcelona was one of the most loved club in the world (and Real Madrid was the complete opposite). Everyone admired the way the club was run and it wouldn't surprise me if that is what causes the referees to be slightly bias towards Barcelona. Other than that, I also believe that it was due to the tactics employed by the club. When you're hogging more than 65% of ball possession every game, calls are bound to go your way, because you're basically the only team that is doing anything on the field. Last but not least, the disgusting tactics of Barcelona to hoard around the referees to ensure decisions go their way plays a big part too (especially nowadays). The way they surround the referees was as if it was rehearsed, and I wouldn't be surprise if that was a part of their training. And let's face it, there are quite a lot of referees that are incompetent nowadays (Ovrebo, Wolfgang Stark etc). This is why people misses Collina.

And I've got a slight question regarding Barcelona's divers. Many a times had we seen calls not going Ronaldo's and Nani's way (sorry, I'm a Man Utd fan so these are the only examples that came to my mind) merely because of their reputation of trying to con the referees whenever possible. They have a reputation of diving, and they suffer from that. Strangely though, the same could not be said about Busquets, Mascherano and Dani Alves. I've got a friend that is a big fan of Barcelona and even he admits that these 3 dives in almost every game they've featured in (Mascherano being recently). But yet, whenever they goes down holding their face the referees won't hesitate to award them a freekick or sometimes even cards to their opponents. I'm guessing that Barcelona's reputation as the best side in the world currently plays a vital part.

Some of your points are valid, though remember Barca just got their reputation for diving after the CL semi-finals. I agree that those three are divers, but I think they did a better job of keeping under the radar than Nani or C. Ronaldo, partially because diving is a lot more common in Spain and they aren't bad compared to others in the league. Alves, for example, is no worse than your typical Brazilian.

If Real Madrid players/managers/fans carry on the way they did in the 1st leg of the CL then refs are going to treat them unfairly. Every time a Madrid players went down it was like they'd been kung-fu kicked. Rolling around in agony, pleading with the ref to book him. And the rest of their team and fans going mental at the ref (I thought players weren't allowed to surround the ref anymore). This happened after every challenge, and quite a few times when the Barca players hadn't done anything wrong. The amount of times di Maria went down was just embarassing, and many times when not even touched. I have no sympathy for Real Madrid whatsoever!

I agree, Barca gets way too much **** for this, Real Madrid was just as bad. As much as I like Di Maria, he's as bad as any of them, and every time he went down he made a huge deal to the ref. Few people mention this. I think it's just that Barca has been getting so much press this season that people are sick of it and want a reason to hate them. Now that they behaved very poorly in a widely televised game, everyone has their reason.

 

[sunilvk7]

If Real Madrid players/managers/fans carry on the way they did in the 1st leg of the CL then refs are going to treat them unfairly. Every time a Madrid players went down it was like they'd been kung-fu kicked. Rolling around in agony, pleading with the ref to book him. And the rest of their team and fans going mental at the ref (I thought players weren't allowed to surround the ref anymore). This happened after every challenge, and quite a few times when the Barca players hadn't done anything wrong. The amount of times di Maria went down was just embarassing, and many times when not even touched. I have no sympathy for Real Madrid whatsoever!

The team that played in White = Real Madrid.
The team that played in bule and red = Barcelona

Hope you dont get confused again.

---------- Post added at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:19 PM ----------

As far as the surrounding the refs go, that's a criticism of Barca that is totally unfair. Last year it was the "typical Germans," this year it's Barca. Every team does this, they all surround the referees when calls don't go their way.

There is a big difference in surrounding ref when a big decision is made and hounding ref for every small challenge and crying for cards..

 

[Snypar]

barcelona get decisions to go there way. whether it's by luck, or if there's a (unlikely) pact with uefa that they have. come cl final, if barca get a controversial decision to go there way, **** will go off.

 

[dasty]

Fair points, but I would like to bring up another issue that had already been stated by Roberto Martinez on Fabregas few months ago. In his interview, Martinez had once stated that "Remember in England that is cheating whereas in South America or Spain getting a decision is clever and getting an advantage." I believe Barcelona had been encouraged to dive back in Spain (same goes for Real Madrid, Di Maria is one of the best examples) and that's why they're alway doing it.

 

[Dickybran]

This is totally unnecessary IMO. Although Barcelona had been benefiting from a lot of big calls throughout the years, I would say that it was mostly due to the fact that Barcelona was one of the most loved club in the world (and Real Madrid was the complete opposite). Everyone admired the way the club was run and it wouldn't surprise me if that is what causes the referees to be slightly bias towards Barcelona. Other than that, I also believe that it was due to the tactics employed by the club. When you're hogging more than 65% of ball possession every game, calls are bound to go your way, because you're basically the only team that is doing anything on the field. Last but not least, the disgusting tactics of Barcelona to hoard around the referees to ensure decisions go their way plays a big part too (especially nowadays). The way they surround the referees was as if it was rehearsed, and I wouldn't be surprise if that was a part of their training. And let's face it, there are quite a lot of referees that are incompetent nowadays (Ovrebo, Wolfgang Stark etc). This is why people misses Collina.

And I've got a slight question regarding Barcelona's divers. Many a times had we seen calls not going Ronaldo's and Nani's way (sorry, I'm a Man Utd fan so these are the only examples that came to my mind) merely because of their reputation of trying to con the referees whenever possible. They have a reputation of diving, and they suffer from that. Strangely though, the same could not be said about Busquets, Mascherano and Dani Alves. I've got a friend that is a big fan of Barcelona and even he admits that these 3 dives in almost every game they've featured in (Mascherano being recently). But yet, whenever they goes down holding their face the referees won't hesitate to award them a freekick or sometimes even cards to their opponents. I'm guessing that Barcelona's reputation as the best side in the world currently plays a vital part.

I'm sorry but Real Madrid surround the ref and dive around just as much as Barca. In the 1st leg of the CL di Maria was diving every time a Barca player came near him. This was followed every time by Real Madrid players shouting at the ref. It was the same in the 2nd leg, Alonso especially was moaning at the ref throughout the game. He himself made at least 3 or 4 blatant fouls before getting booked, and even then he had a cheek to moan at the ref. It's a blatant tactics to try to make the ref give more decision there way. The same goes for Carvalho. How he didn't get booked in the first half amazes me, and Madrid have the cheek to say Barca don't get punished enough. The Real Madrid
team should try looking at the 1st leg in an unbiased way. Anyone watching that game could see it was Real Madrid trying every trick in the book. It was disgusting! I'm not saying Barca are Angels, Mascarano and Pedro were guilty of some serious treating. But I can't help feeling that Real Madrid had been cheating from the start and some of the Barca players had had enough so started themselves.

I would love UEFA to look into these games as neutrals and punish the real cheats. But as I've said before, if the Spanish/Portugese consider diving and fooling the ref a skill they have to be prepared for other teams to cheat against them.