The returning wrath against FC Barcelona while uncovering the largest betting scandal in football history…

Europol announced today that they uncovered a football fixing scandal run from Singapore, which involves about 680 suspicious matches all over the world. According to the European police, even matches in the UEFA Champions League, World Cup qualifying matches, as well as matches for the European championship are allegedly involved. It is a very sad day in the world of football.

Football, also known as soccer in some areas of the world, is the most popular sport on the planet. Billions of dollars are involved, not only when it comes to huge player salaries of superstars in the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

When I first heard of these news today, I immediately remembered the UEFA Champions League matches involving one team: FC Barcelona. Now, before you expect me to remain unbiased in this article, let me inform you that this will not be possible for me, not only because I am a fan of FC Barcelona’s largest rival – Real Madrid, but also because I cannot stand the fact that nothing happened in the last couple of years, even though not only Real Madrid fans were crying out for some form of justice when players of one team are treated unfairly in a match.

So, I will now let my anger out in the form of this article, looking at numerous matches involving one of the largest football clubs in the world – and also one of the most successful ones, well at least so we thougth…

Apart from the political issues involved when taking a look at the history of Spain, there have always been tensions between Catalans and the rest of Spain. Since I am not of Spanish descent, I never had any reason not to like FC Barcelona. Success is not a reason for me to hate a rival football club. But a couple of years ago, that changed whenever Real Madrid was treated unfairly by a referee, in my eyes at least, when playing FC Barcelona. Let’s take a look at the individual incidents involving very questionable referee decisions in the UEFA Champions League, as well as the Spanish La Liga and Copa Del Rey, when Barcelona were facing Real Madrid.

1. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – AC Milan (26.04.2006) semi-final
AC Milan lost the first leg at home to Barcelona by 0:1. The return leg in the Camp Nou took place on 26.04.2006. Interestingly, Andriy Shevchenko scored a goal that was disallowed by German referee Markus Merk because he supposedly saw a foul by Shevchenko on Barcelona defender Carles Puyol. The match ended 0:0 with Barcelona progressing to the final, where they beat FC Arsenal by 2:1. I have added the link to a video on YouTube, where you can judge yourself:

2. UEFA Champions League: FC Chelsea – FC Barcelona (06.05.2009) semi-final
The first leg in Barcelona ended 0:0. The return leg in London was to be a very difficult match for FC Barcelona and this can well be the match that was announced by EUROPOL today. The referee, Tom Henning Övrebö, denied the Chelsea team six potential penalties, of which not a single one was given! The match ended 1:1, with Barcelona progressing on away goals. Again, Barcelona won the Champions League that season by beating Manchester United in the final. Check out these six chances in the video below:

3. UEFA Champions League: FC København – FC Barcelona (02.11.2010) group stage matchday 4
This time it was “only” a group stage match, when at ten minutes into the match FC Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes storms out of his goal and does a Kung-Fu-like kick to stop FC København striker Dame N’Doye. This is one of the most dangerous and most brutal fouls I have ever seen in football and should easily have been fined with a red card for Victor Valdes. But referee Pavel Cristian Balaj did not even show him a yellow card. Barcelona ended up winning the group, FC København coming in second and receiving the disadvantage of having to face a group winner team in the round of 16. The video of the foul:

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81170758/

4. Primera División: Real Madrid – FC Barcelona (16.04.2011) match day 32
In this clásico, striker Lionel Messi shot the ball into the Real Madrid crowd at the Santiago Bernabéu and did not receive the yellow card, as is custom when provoking the fans. Though this did not influence the outcome of the match, as this would have been Messi’s first booking in the match, it is a clear violation of FIFA regulations. Looks like he received some special treatment.

5. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – Inter Milan (28.04.2010) semi-final
Again, Barcelona in a Champions League return leg at the semi-final stage. Inter Milan player Thiago Motta, who played for Barcelona before he transferred to Inter, was shown a red card for a controversial tackle on Sergio Busquets, who built up a reputation for diving and acting. Barcelona lost the first leg 3:1 and had to win the return leg in order to progress to the final, but even though Inter were reduced to ten men with only 28 minutes played, Barcelona could not take advantage. Justice remained. Make up your own mind, whether it was a tackle worthy of a straight red card:

6. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – FC Arsenal (08.03.2011) round of 16
And once again the UEFA Champions League, this time Barcelona lost the first leg in London against Arsenal by 2:1. The return leg in the Camp Nou was won by Barcelona with 3:1. Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie received a second yellow card because he took a shot at goal after the referee Massimo Busacca blew his whistle due to offside. Imagine the noise that the crowd of over 90.000 people make in the Camp Nou and keep in mind that Van Persie kicked the ball about 1 second after the referee blew his whistle. Check out the incident and Van Persie’s view on the decision:

7. UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid – FC Barcelona (27.04.2011) semi-final
And yet another semi-final which Barcelona won under some very controversial circumstances. In the first leg of the semi-final Champions League clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid defender Pepe received a red card for a supposedly brutal tackle on Dani Alves. Admitting that it may have been dangerous play, it is quite clear that Pepe played the ball during the tackle and never touched Dani Alves. Again, the Barcelona player acted and made German referee Wolfgang Stark, who has been a controversy ever since, fell for the acting of Dani Alves. Now compare this tackle to the one from Victor Valdes and tell me that everything is correct…

8. UEFA Champions League: FC Barcelona – Real Madrid (03.05.2011) semi-final
The return leg of this tie continued just as controversial as the first leg did, which Real Madrid lost 0:2. The fact that defender Pepe was sent off due to the controversial tackle on Alves, which is mentioned above, Real Madrid found themselves in a very difficult starting position in the return leg at the Camp Nou. But things started quite well – at least until referee Frank de Bleeckere, who was already mentioned earlier in this article, disallowed a goal by Gonzalo Higuaín, which should have counted, as Cristiano Ronaldo did not foul Mascherano in my opinion. I think most people would concur:

All in all, I really hope that Europol will uncover at least some of these incidents and show that FC Barcelona did not win all the trophies in a fair way. I also want to point out that I think Barcelona is a great team and plays very impressive football. This is what makes it even more sad in my opinion, because FC Barcelona does not need such controversial referee decisions – they are good enough as is. But nevertheless, such unfair referee decisions need to be punished and set right.
In my opinion, Barcelona should lose the titles they won due to unfair referee decisions, if Europol manages to proof that the concerned games have been manipulated due to betting scandals or whatever reason.

Football is a great sport and I think all of us fans want it to be clean and that the better team wins in the end – without unfair help from the referee. This NEEDS to STOP.

Review: UEFA Champions League last sixteen

There was definitely plenty of interesting football to be seen this week, as half of the last sixteen have decided their fate in Europe’s top notch football competition. Plenty of goals have been scored, in some matches too many, in others too few.

On Tuesday evening, Arsenal took on AC Milan for the return leg in London. After the Gunners were humiliated in a 4:0 defeat in Milan a few weeks earlier, only a few were brave enough to bet on them progressing to the quarter finals. However, during the long wait for the Rossoneri to return the favour of sightseeing, Arsene’s Arsenal have played some very impressive football in-between.

On February 26th, the Gunners faced Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium. After being down 2:0 at home, Wenger’s boys, and men, turned the match around by 180° and ended up winning 5:2. Arsenal’s star striker this season, Robin Van Persie, was the man behind the team’s success, as he kept on fighting until the very last minute and also got rewarded with three goals in the last two matches in the English Premier League. Arsenal also impressed me with their win at Anfield Road, one of the toughest venues to win a match of football, no matter how bad Liverpool’s form may be at the moment.

So, some of the hope of the Arsenal fans was legitimate, as mission-nearly-impossible started off. The Gunners kicked off with a very high pace, one could immediately read their will to turn the aggregate score around. And the audience did not have to wait long, as defender Koscielny headed in the ball after a corner kick from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 6th minute, as he was completely   unmarked by the Italians.

One did not have to wait long for the next goal, as AC Milan’s defense was terrible that night. Plenty of mistakes in their back rows set up numerous chances for the Gunners during the match. Just like that, Rosicky took advantage of a bad pass within the sixteen-yard area and buried the ball with a flat and hard shot into the near post of Christian Abbiati. It was 2:0 already and not even half an hour played.

The game continued Arsenal’s way and the statistics showed at 30 minutes in. Five total attempts at goal for Arsenal, only two for Milan. And keep in mind two of five have already been converted into goals. So it was no surprise that Arsenal kept on pushing forward and also get rewarded for their work. In the 43rd minute Oxlade-Chamberlain got his side a penalty kick, as Milan’s defender Mesbah brought him down with a clumsy tackle. Who else but captain Van Persie stepped up and converted with an unstoppable shot into the top right corner of Abbiati’s goal.

It was now half-time and Arsenal were leading 3:0. Somehow, I was reminded of the epic final in Istanbul.

The second half continued with a high pace, however Milan’s defense was slightly more aware now. Nevertheless, Arsenal still had plenty of chances to increase their lead and by that get on terms on the aggregate scoreline. The best of these chances fell to Robin Van Persie in the 58th minute, as Milan’s defense messed up once again.

But it was not to be for Arsenal, as Milan prevailed. The most dangerous players on Milan’s side were Ibrahimovic and El Sharawy, who both had chances to decide the match at any point, as Arsenal would have needed to score six goals by then, if the Rossoneri had scored in London. The match ended 3:0, on aggregate 3:4 with AC Milan progressing to the quarter finals.

In the other match of Tuesday night, Benfica Lisbon defeated Zenit St. Petersburg with goals to nil. Maxi Pereira opened the scoring for the Portuguese just before half time, which already put Benfica into a progressing state, as the first leg ended 3:2 for St. Petersburg. Reason being that Benfica benefited from their two away goals. Nonetheless, the Portuguese kept on fighting until the very last minute in order to seal their win. Nelson Oliveira scored the second for Benfica in added time.

The two matches on Wednesday also had quite something to offer. FC Barcelona faced German side Bayer 04 Leverkusen at the Camp Nou and Olympique Lyon headed to the island of Cyprus to face APOEL Nikosia.

Barcelona had a rather big advantage heading into the game at home, as they had already won in Germany with three goals to one. In the first leg, Leverkusen seemed to be more of fans of the Barça side themselves than actual opponents. And so it continued in Catalonia.

Sometimes people in Germany ask me, why I do not follow the Bundesliga or the German teams in general as much as I follow the English Premier League or the Spanish LFP. Well, to be honest, it is because of matches like these. Bayer Leverkusen played like little boys with too much respect and awe for the Spanish side. And the Barcelona players caught up on that psychological advantage.

Leverkusen held out for 25 minutes, but then the Lionel Messi show began, as he put his first into the net after a great pass from Xavi. Before that, Barcelona could have led by two or three goals already if it wasn’t for goalkeeper Leno. Barcelona continued to push forward and Messi dribbled his way past the defense in the 42nd minute to put the ball into the net for the second Barça goal. Leverkusen were very lucky that it was only 2:0 at half time.

But that did not stop Barcelona of course. Messi completed his hat trick at just 50 minutes played, as he lifted the ball over Leno for the second time. After a pass from Fabregas, Tello made it 4:0 in the 56th minute, only to take turns on goal scoring with Messi from now on. Hence, the little Argentine scored his fourth goal just two minutes later. Then again, Tello replaced him as the latest scorer in the Camp Nou in the 62nd minute to make it 6:0 for the Spaniards.

After that goal exchange between Messi and Tello, Leverkusen had a few minutes to breathe before the next one flew past Leno. Lionel Messi scored his fifth goal of the evening in the 85th minute to make it an astounding 7:0 for Barcelona. One might wonder, how on earth Bayer Leverkusen even managed to get this far in Europe’s top level competition.

It was quite surprising that the team from Germany managed to get one goal just before the end of the match, as Bellarabi scored a beautiful goal that curled past Víctor Valdés into the right hand corner of the goal. Still, it was the very definition of a consolation goal.

The second match of Wednesday night, APOEL Nikosia vs. Olympique Lyon also handed out a big surprise, as Lyon were defeated in a penalty shootout by 4:3. But I always welcome underdog sides that progress into the quarter finals, as APOEL did this time. It was also the first time a team from Cyprus managed to get to this stage of the competition.