Cantalejo favours catanaccio

Extra time

From the second minute on Arsenal delayed the game by making small fouls and slowing the game down. Cantelejo rewarded Ajax a couple of unnecessery free kicks slowing down the game even more. It took Cantelejo exactly ninety minutes to finally present Arsenals goalkeeper a yellow booking for delaying. Even this call was in favour of Arsenal because it took another minute.

Frustration

Frustration over Cantelejos calls resulted in numerous bookings for the young Ajax squad. They were not professional enough to know that Spanish honour can't be questioned. A Spanish referee never makes mistakes, even if he books the wrong player as Cantelejo did in the first half when Grygera (Ajax) was booked after his fellow player Lindenberg committed a foul.

Sad to watch

It was sad to watch Arsenal play this way though. Without Henry or Bergkamp their game was bland, on the defensive and Cantalejo helped the defencing team by almost all the time favoring a defender over an attacker.

Dear Fifa an Uefa officials

Let us end with one reminder for FIFA and UEFA officials. Cantelejo is not bad, he is very orderly and precise, but please don't let him referee matches with offensive football like the national team of Brasil, that is if you want to give Brasil an honest chance to win another world cup.