UEFA
Champions League 2006 - 07, final phase
previous years:
First knock-out round, leg 1, February 20 - 21, 2007
First knock-out round, leg 2, March 6 - 7, 2007
Quarter-finals, leg 1, April 3 - 4, 2007
Quarter-finals, leg 2, April 10 - 11, 2007
Semi-finals, April 24 - 25 and May 1 - 2, 2007
First knock-out round, leg 1, February
20 - 21, 2007
Inter - Valencia 2 - 1, officially 2 - 2
The first goal of Valencia was scored from a free kick for a wrongly-awarded foul, Dacourt's challenge was aimed at the ball and did get it, even if he also brought Morientes down in the process. Too bad, because Villa's execution was fantastic, a goal to remember.
Lille - Manchester United 0 - 2, officially 0 - 1
Man U should have been given a penalty for a foul on Rooney at begin of the first half; he managed to shoot but was clearly hindered by a Lille defender, otherwise he might have scored.
Their second goal (officially the only one) was weird indeed but probably legal.
Celtic - Milan 0 - 0
We think Celtic should have had a penalty in the second half; Ambrosini brought down Miller near the penalty box but the ref let the game flow, then a Celtic player was put down in the box. Hauge awarded the initial foul, it looked like he blew the whistle after the second one but we're not sure. Anyway, while we think a good ref would have given the penalty, Hauge's decision was probably still a legal one.
Real Madrid - Bayern 3 - 2
PSV - Arsenal 1 - 0
Barcelona - Liverpool 1 - 2
Porto - Chelsea 1 - 1
Roma - Lyon 0 - 0
First knock-out round, leg 2, March
6 - 7, 2007
Milan - Celtic 0 - 1, officially 1 - 0
Celtic had a clear penalty disallowed near the end of the game, Ambrosini brought down Nakamura but Plautz didn't see anything. Milan's goal doesn't count since it was scored in extra-time which shouldn't have been played any more.
This Plautz character must be the worst ref ever to officiate in the Champions League.
Lyon - Roma 0 - 2
We believe it should have been actually 0 - 3, Roma had a first goal cancelled out because of a foul. We don't think there was one, a hand was involved but it really didn't look like it mattered. However, things are not clear enough so the referee must be given credit. Fortunately it didn't influence the outcome of the tie.
As an aside, we've seen numerous similar but much more obvious fouls that weren't given, to mention only those of Cannavaro in the semi-final and Materazzi in the final of last year's World Cup.
Bayern - Real Madrid 2 - 1
Real's goal was scored from a penalty we think is doubtful at best, but not enough to overrule the ref.
Manchester United - Lille 1 - 0
A few incidents in the penalty box on both ends, nothing very clear.
Liverpool - Barcelona 0 - 1
Valencia - Inter 0 - 0
Chelsea - Porto 2 - 1
Arsenal - PSV Eindhoven 1 - 1
Qualified teams:
Celtic (officially Milan)
Inter (officially Valencia)
Liverpool
PSV Eindhoven
AS Roma
Chelsea
Manchester United
Bayern
Quarter-finals, leg 1, April 3 - 4, 2007
Celtic (officially Milan) - Bayern 3 - 1, officially 2 - 2
Milan was denied a penalty in the first half for a foul at Kaka. Then Gilardino was wrongly flagged off-side in an action in which he managed to score, which also brought him a booking for not stopping play.
Bayern's first goal was preceded by an offensive foul, the classical hand on the back of the opponent.
In the end Milan were given a penalty which actually wasn't there. It sure looked like compensation for the one the ref missed in the first half.
Chelsea - Inter (officially Valencia) 2 - 1 (officially 1 - 1)
Shevchenko was denied a penalty in the second half.
Roma - Manchester United 2 - 1
In our view Scholes was too easily dismissed, the first booking was well-deserved (maybe even a borderline red), the second one on the other hand was little more than a regular foul. Unfortunately this one we cannot correct. That said, he did have a few other rather strong tackles, maybe a bit too many and too strong, so in the end it wasn't completely undeserved.
PSV Eindhoven - Liverpool 0 - 3
Quarter-finals, leg 2, April 10 - 11, 2007
Bayern - Celtic (officially Milan) 2 - 1 (officially 0 - 2)
Inzaghi's goal was scored following an off-side.
There were at least 2, possibly 3 non-granted penalties for Bayern near the end of the second half, all in an interval of about 10 minutes. Bayern players were held or pushed down in the box, the 2 clearest incidents being both caused by Nesta. Italian style. Of course the ref didn't see anything. In one case he even gave Milan the foul, Nesta fell after pushing too hard against Lucio who retreated. Understandably, Lucio then displayed some very angry feelings towards the referee.
Manchester United - AS Roma 6 - 1 (officially 7 - 1)
Man U's 5th goal (the second one of Ronaldo) was scored after an off-side, not of Ronaldo but of one of his team-mates who influenced both Chivu and the italian goalkeeper. Not that it mattered anyway.
Liverpool - PSV Eindhoven 1 - 0
We think Marcellis was sent off way too easily, he deserved a booking but not a dismissal. The ref probably viewed this game as a friendly, which it more or less was.
Inter (officially Valencia) - Chelsea 1 - 2
Qualified teams:
Celtic (officially Milan)
Manchester United
Chelsea
Liverpool
Semi-finals, leg 1, April 24 - 25, 2007
Manchester United - Celtic (officially Milan) 3 - 2
Beautiful game, very clean, very fair, the 2 teams were there to play football. 5 goals, 3 of which were beautiful, and not a shadow of a doubt of foul play on any of them. Quite remarkable.
Chelsea - Liverpool 2 - 2 (officially 1 - 0)
Gerrard was denied a penalty for a foul at the end of the first half. Shortly afterwards, same thing at the other end, Drogba was pushed down in the box when he was about to jump for a ball. Nearly identical scene at begin of the second half, Crouch was fouled in a similar manner. This last one really should have been given, it was pretty obvious.
Besides these, there were a few other similar situations at both ends, not clear enough though to overrule the ref. Plus a lot of minor wrong decisions. Very weak refereeing.
Semi-finals, leg 2, May 1 - 2, 2007
Liverpool - Chelsea 2 - 1 (officially 1 - 0)
Obi Mikel was denied a penalty at the end of the first half, for a foul by Riise. A few minutes afterwards, Gerrard should also have had one at the other end.
Celtic (officially Milan) - Manchester United 3 - 1 (officially 3 - 0)
Rooney was denied a penalty for a foul in the second half. The foul was very light but from what we could see on TV it definitely influenced him while he was attempting a very difficult execution.
Qualified teams:
Celtic (officially Milan)
Liverpool
Final, May 23, 2007
Liverpool - Celtic (officially Milan) 2 - 2 (officially 1 - 2)
Liverpool should have had a penalty, Gerrard was fouled by Nesta at begin of the second half. The foul was light but it was there, he clearly put his hand on Gerrard's shoulder and pulled him back. Then he did a brilliant tackle to take the ball from Gerrard. This is a very good example of italian-style defending of the finest sort, very technical but also aided by a little bit of foul play, just enough so that the ref doesn't risk an intervention. While one can rightfully admire such level of skill, it doesn't change the fact that it is foul play and should be punished as such; it becomes very clear when viewed on a good video record.
Other than that, there were a couple of fouls near the box at both ends that went uncalled, plus an incorrect off-side which stopped Kuyt from a promising position, all in the second half. Nothing of relevance to our score correction.
Final ranking:
As a result, following our correction scheme, this year's FairFootball UCL winner is Liverpool.
winner: Liverpool (officially Milan)
finalist: Celtic (officially Liverpool)
semi-finalists: Manchester United, Chelsea
quarter-finalists: Inter (officially Valencia), PSV Eindhoven, AS Roma, Bayern