This guy is good

No nightmare for Brych

While Tottenham looked out of their depth tonight, the young German referee Felix Brych looked very much at home on this massive stage and his rapid rise up the ranks of European refereeing continued. He is very impressive.

Crouch

It was never going to be easy for Tottenham tonight, but Peter Crouch made the task so much harder for his team mates by getting sent off in the 15th minute. A rash, sliding tackle on Sergio Ramos in the 8th minute earned Crouch a yellow and a stern word from Brych. But he did not take heed, and 7 minutes later he made a very similar challenge on Marcelo. Brych was well-positioned and immediately gave Crouch a second yellow and his marching orders. It was not the hardest decision he will ever have to give, but it is always brave to send a player off early in a match (Howard Webb ignored two clear red cards early on in the World Cup Final). However, Marcelo should be ashamed of his reaction to the decision, to take delight in another player being sent off is disgraceful, unsporting and against the spirit of the game.

Handball

Towards the end of the first half Real had a very good appeal for a penalty turned down when the ball hit Dawson on the arm. This is a tough one. Certainly Dawson did not intentionally handle the ball. However, his arms were raised from the natural position and this is often interpreted as deliberate handball. I think the 'arms raised' interpretation is to stop players acting cynically and making themselves bigger to block shots. Dawson was clearly not acting cynically like this, and that is maybe what persuaded Brych not to award a penalty. I respect his decision but many referees would have given the penalty. The IFAB needs to give clear directives on exactly what constitutes a deliberate handball to ensure consistency.

Otherwise

The decision Brych definitely got wrong was not to caution Sergio Ramos in the final minute of the first half. He blocked off a promising run from Bale up the left wing with a reckless foul that merited a yellow card. The AARs were as usual completely superfluous, apart from making Brych run almost a right-back diagonal so he was in the way of play once or twice. The standard assistants were faultless.

A good future

Brych has a very big future in European refereeing. At 35 he has many years ahead of him at the top level and would not be surprised if he got the Europa League final this year and the Champions League final in the near future. I think he should go to Euro 2012 ahead of Stark. It seems European refereeing may have a new golden generation in Brych, Rizzoli, Kassai, Kuipers and Velasco Carballo to rival the likes of Collina, Mark, Frisk, Milton Nielsen and Meier from a few years ago. That seems like a nice conclusion to draw.