Stéphane Lannoy matches

After the referee Stéphane Lannoy made us - the neutral spectators - the gift of three minutes of added time, this match was a totally waste of time. Zenit were unable to score, Shakhtar unable to mount an attack with more than 3 stations without loosing the ball. A deserved win for the Russians in a match which most exciting moment occurred in the last minutes when the Russian TV discovered the avowing Zenit supporter Dmitri Medvedev and delighted in showing not less than 6 flashes of the Russian president..

Basketball would have been the better choice for Monsieur Lannoy
I am still shocked by Lannoy's foul "detection". He did not allow any contact close to the box, the hopes that Shakhtar could raise a promising attack always expired because a Ukrainian - respectively one of the many Brazilians - touched his opponent. The communication between Lannoy and the players should be improved as well. However, the first half was quite satisfying, even though there was only one situation to solve. In the 26th minute, Willian performed one of his five or six dives throughout the whole match in the box, Lannoy did not react. Neither a penalty, nor a free kick and a yellow card for diving. A wrong decision, he must decide for one of both, replays showed that it was an obvious dive. To formulate it in a kind way: his construction or interpretation of the rules were not always reasonable. The cards were overall ok, assistant referees as well, but everyone who thinks that this referee has learned from his World Cup or has improved anything should be disappointed.