UEFA
Champions League 2005 - 06, final phase
First knock-out round, leg 1, February 21 - 22, 2006
First knock-out round, leg 2, March 7 - 8, 2006
Quarter-finals, leg 1, March 28 - 29, 2006
Quarter-finals, leg 2, April 4 - 5, 2006
Semi-finals, April 18 - 19 and 25 - 26, 2006
First knock-out round, leg 1, February
21 - 22, 2006
Bayern - Milan 2 - 0, officially 1 - 1
Milan's
goal was scored from a penalty kick that was obviously wrong, at begin of the
second half. The Bayern defender clearly had his hand stuck to his body, but
the referee saw a handball. Instead, Bayern should have been given a penalty
for a foul, near the middle of the second half.
PSV - Lyon 1 - 1, officially 0 - 1
Both PSV
in the first half and Lyon in the second half should have been granted a
penalty. Lyon's goal was scored from an incorrect free kick.
Chelsea - Barcelona 2 - 3, officially 1 - 2
Barcelona
should have been granted a penalty for an obvious foul of John Terry at Messi
at begin of the second half. Drogba was incorrectly ruled off-side when he was
only with Valdez to beat, near the end of the game.
(Regrettably,
Del Horno was given a direct red card in the first half for a foul at Messi,
which clearly influenced the game and likely changed the final result in favor
of Barcelona. While we don't think this was necessary, a yellow card would have
been more appropriate, we admit that the foul was ugly enough for a red card
also; it wasn't an obvious referee mistake.)
Real
Madrid - Arsenal 0 - 1
Benfica
- Liverpool 1 - 0
Werder
- Juventus 3 - 2
Ajax -
Inter 2 - 2
Rangers
- Villarreal 2 - 2
First knock-out round, leg 2, March
7 - 8, 2006
Milan - Bayern 3 - 1, officially 4 - 1
Milan's
first goal was scored from an obvious off-side at Inzaghi.
Arsenal - Real 0 - 1, officially 0 - 0
Ronaldo was denied a penalty in the first half. Gilberto Silva did touch the ball,
but Ronaldo retained control, then he was clearly brought down by the defender.
Barcelona - Chelsea 1 - 0, officially 1 - 1
Chelsea's
penalty, which lead to their late goal, was as wrong as can be. Terry was
off-side and there was no foul at all, Van Bronckhorst touched the ball first.
Liverpool - Benfica 0 - 3, officially 0 - 2
Nuno Gomez was incorrectly ruled off-side with only the keeper to beat,
at begin of the second half.
Villarreal - Rangers 2 - 1, officially 1 - 1
Villarreal were denied a penalty for a foul at Senna, at the end of the first
half.
Juventus
- Werder 2 - 1
Lyon
- PSV 4 - 0
Inter -
Ajax 1 - 0
(game played March 14)
Qualified teams:
Bayern Munich (officially Milan)
Real Madrid (officially Arsenal)
Juventus Torino
Barcelona
Benfica Lisbon
Lyon
Villarreal
Inter Milan
Quarter-finals, leg 1, March 28 - 29, 2006
Inter - Villarreal 2 - 2, officially 2 - 1
Sorin was denied a penalty in the second half.
Real (officially Arsenal) - Juventus 2 - 0
Lyon - Bayern (officially Milan) 0 - 0
Benfica - Barcelona 0 - 0
Quarter-finals, leg 2, April 4 - 5, 2006
Villarreal - Inter 1 - 1, officially 1 - 0
Martins was denied a penalty in the second half.
Juventus - Real (officially Arsenal) 1 - 0 (officially 0 - 0)
Trezeguet was denied a penalty in the second half.
Bayern (officially Milan) - Lyon 3 - 1
Barcelona - Benfica 2 - 0
Qualified teams:
Bayern Munich (officially Milan)
Real Madrid (officially Arsenal)
Barcelona
Villarreal
Semi-finals, leg 1, April 18 - 19, 2006
Real (officially Arsenal) - Villarreal 1 - 1 (officially 1 - 0)
José María was denied a penalty at the end of the first half.
Bayern (officially Milan) - Barcelona 0 - 1
Semi-finals, leg 2, April 25 - 26, 2006
Villarreal - Real (officially Arsenal) 1 - 0 (officially 0 - 0)
Franco was denied a penalty in the second half.
Barcelona - Bayern (officially Milan) 0 - 0
A goal by Shevchenko was cancelled out near the end of the game, for an alleged foul. Based on what we could see on TV, we tend to believe there was no foul, but we cannot be reasonably sure of it. Therefore, we have to give credit to the referee.
Qualified teams:
Villarreal (officially Arsenal)
Barcelona
Final, May 17, 2006
Barcelona - Villareal (officially Arsenal) 3 - 0 (officially 2 - 1)
Arsenal's goal was scored from a wrongly awarded free-kick, Puyol didn't foul Eboué.
Ronaldinho was denied a penalty for a foul from Eboué again, in the second half.
Barça's first goal may have been scored from an off-side position at Eto'o, but it was
very hard to tell so we are not sure enough to change it, though we tend to think it
was off-side. On the other hand, the referee definitely should have awarded Barça a goal
at begin of the game, when Lehmann was sent out for a foul at Eto'o. Sending Lehmann out
was OK, but a good referee would have let the game flow to Barcelona's advantage, awarded
the goal then the red card. Though this is definitely what would have happened had there
been a good referee in charge of the game, we don't think this qualifies as a referee
mistake, he blew the whistle for a foul that was there.
Other than that, Henry and Oleguer took yellow cards for thackles that weren't even fouls.
The refereeing was rather embarrasing, incredibly weak for a Champions League final. At
begin it went strongly against Barcelona, though probably not intentionally. Fortunately,
they were able to overcome this obstacle and turn the game in their favor.
Well done Barça, you proved conclusively that you are the best team of the moment.
Final ranking:
At the end, the good thing is that the team that officially won deserved to win. Which
is the most important. Other than that, however, most final rankings were distorted,
especially at the top.
winner: Barcelona
finalist: Villarreal (officially Arsenal)
semi-finalists: Real Madrid (officially Villarreal),
Bayern Munich (officially Milan)
quarter-finalists: Benfica, Inter, Juventus, Lyon