It's been almost a year and we have had to endure a monotonous diet of mostly competent officiating in the Champions League. Scandal and incredulity were in short supply over the past few months, so in that respect, it's refreshing to have Tom Henning Ovrebo back on the scene.
Since his baffling performance in the semi-finals of last season's competition, during the Chelsea - Barcelona battle at Stamford Bridge, the Norwegian has succeeded in riling up the entire nation of Latvia. He awarded the softest of penalties to Greece in order to allow the former European champions an added boost in their World Cup campaign during a qualifier in October. But on Wednesday night, he was back to doing what he does best; goading Italians.
Following on from his slapstick showing in Euro 2008, when he disallowed a legitimate Luca Toni goal against Romania for offside, he unravelled the Viola's hard work against Bayern Munich with an astonishing display of incompetence.
Granted, his decision to send off Massimo Gobbi was correct and should not be one queried by the conspiracy theorists. Throat strikes with the elbow are not permitted in MMA, to my knowledge, so it's no surprise that they are forbidden on a football field either. However, there were glaring examples of why the psychologist should stick to his day job and leave the refereeing to someone - anyone else.
Fiorentina did, essentially, what they had to do on the night. They held Bayern at arm's length, without exerting too much pressure in an attacking sense. The performance of Cesare Prandelli's charges should be lauded as a supreme blueprint of how to play away from home in Europe.
Tight and rigid in defence, with Lorenzo De Silvestri keeping the shackles on Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez managing to make Cesare Natali and Per Kroldrup look like Nesta and Cannavaro circa 2000, la Viola have every right to count themselves as equals to FC Hollywood.
Stevan Jovetic roved menacingly and was flanked assiduously by Manuel Vargas and Marco Marchionni; meanwhile, FCB did their best to shoot themselves in the foot. Thomas Mueller barely featured, Martin Demichelis aimed as many passes to those in violet as those in white while Mark van Bommel set about his task of being Mark van Bommel. Which, most of the time, is a red card offence.
How the intimidating and snide Dutchman stayed on the field until half-time is only known to Ovrebo. Not content with stamping a mambo beat on Riccardo Montolivo's metatarsal, the captain of Bayern Munich then indulged himself with a blatant dive under the nose of the referee. Mario Bolatti could only watch on as three things failed to happen. 1. No free kick was given to Bayern. 2. No free kick was given against Bayern. 3. No booking was issued to Van Bommel for simulation. Nothing; stasis; inertia. A complete absolution of responsibility; an invitation to Van Bommel to referee the game himself. That Montolivo had to be substituted late on with a damaged foot only adds to the sense of injustice felt by the Gigliati.
They controlled everything they possibly could that lay within their remit for the duration. The Serie A side locked out a hitherto free-scoring Bundesliga outfit, a team who had scored close to 40 goals in just over 10 matches. What Fiorentina could not account for was that great unknown variable - The Ovrebo Factor.
When Miro Klose stooped to head past Sebastien Frey in the 90th minute, admittedly, there was a palpable sense of inevitability about it. But that does not mean the goal should have stood. Quite the opposite in fact. The Poland-born striker was standing a good four yards the wrong side of the nearest man in violet when he cleared up Ivica Olic's rebound but astonishingly, no decision was forthcoming. It was beyond bizarre and in the realm of farce. Ovrebo and his troope of assistants failed to spot the glaring error and Fiorentina were to be denied a triumphant return to Tuscany.
Nonetheless, the Italians are still in with a great shout. Bayern's Champions League impotence struck again here and they needed the little blue pill that was a horrific refereeing display to rise to the occasion. Back at the Franchi, in Florence, it could be a different story. Spurred by injustice and in their customary continental form, Fiorentina will be no pushover, especially with Ovrebo mercifully out of the way.
Since his baffling performance in the semi-finals of last season's competition, during the Chelsea - Barcelona battle at Stamford Bridge, the Norwegian has succeeded in riling up the entire nation of Latvia. He awarded the softest of penalties to Greece in order to allow the former European champions an added boost in their World Cup campaign during a qualifier in October. But on Wednesday night, he was back to doing what he does best; goading Italians.
Following on from his slapstick showing in Euro 2008, when he disallowed a legitimate Luca Toni goal against Romania for offside, he unravelled the Viola's hard work against Bayern Munich with an astonishing display of incompetence.
Granted, his decision to send off Massimo Gobbi was correct and should not be one queried by the conspiracy theorists. Throat strikes with the elbow are not permitted in MMA, to my knowledge, so it's no surprise that they are forbidden on a football field either. However, there were glaring examples of why the psychologist should stick to his day job and leave the refereeing to someone - anyone else.
Fiorentina did, essentially, what they had to do on the night. They held Bayern at arm's length, without exerting too much pressure in an attacking sense. The performance of Cesare Prandelli's charges should be lauded as a supreme blueprint of how to play away from home in Europe.
Tight and rigid in defence, with Lorenzo De Silvestri keeping the shackles on Franck Ribery and Mario Gomez managing to make Cesare Natali and Per Kroldrup look like Nesta and Cannavaro circa 2000, la Viola have every right to count themselves as equals to FC Hollywood.
Stevan Jovetic roved menacingly and was flanked assiduously by Manuel Vargas and Marco Marchionni; meanwhile, FCB did their best to shoot themselves in the foot. Thomas Mueller barely featured, Martin Demichelis aimed as many passes to those in violet as those in white while Mark van Bommel set about his task of being Mark van Bommel. Which, most of the time, is a red card offence.
How the intimidating and snide Dutchman stayed on the field until half-time is only known to Ovrebo. Not content with stamping a mambo beat on Riccardo Montolivo's metatarsal, the captain of Bayern Munich then indulged himself with a blatant dive under the nose of the referee. Mario Bolatti could only watch on as three things failed to happen. 1. No free kick was given to Bayern. 2. No free kick was given against Bayern. 3. No booking was issued to Van Bommel for simulation. Nothing; stasis; inertia. A complete absolution of responsibility; an invitation to Van Bommel to referee the game himself. That Montolivo had to be substituted late on with a damaged foot only adds to the sense of injustice felt by the Gigliati.
They controlled everything they possibly could that lay within their remit for the duration. The Serie A side locked out a hitherto free-scoring Bundesliga outfit, a team who had scored close to 40 goals in just over 10 matches. What Fiorentina could not account for was that great unknown variable - The Ovrebo Factor.
When Miro Klose stooped to head past Sebastien Frey in the 90th minute, admittedly, there was a palpable sense of inevitability about it. But that does not mean the goal should have stood. Quite the opposite in fact. The Poland-born striker was standing a good four yards the wrong side of the nearest man in violet when he cleared up Ivica Olic's rebound but astonishingly, no decision was forthcoming. It was beyond bizarre and in the realm of farce. Ovrebo and his troope of assistants failed to spot the glaring error and Fiorentina were to be denied a triumphant return to Tuscany.
Nonetheless, the Italians are still in with a great shout. Bayern's Champions League impotence struck again here and they needed the little blue pill that was a horrific refereeing display to rise to the occasion. Back at the Franchi, in Florence, it could be a different story. Spurred by injustice and in their customary continental form, Fiorentina will be no pushover, especially with Ovrebo mercifully out of the way.
0 comments:
Post a Comment