'Lenient' is understated

13:0 corners after 23 minutes

Unbelievable, but it was like that. Steaua were incapable of clearing the ball without a consequent corner kick. The 13th corner was finally the 1-0 for Schalke, actually this number brings bad luck, but yesterday, it was different. Then something happened which occurs very often in football. You are playing, getting corner kick after corner kick, lead 1-0 and then, your opponent is crossing the midfield line for the first time and makes the equalizer. Raúl later scored the 2-1, it could have been 5-1, a dangerously close win, but a much deserved one.

Mateu Lahoz, an untypical Spanish ref?

He whistled 14 fouls. 4 against Schalke, 10 against Steaua. Two necessary bookings. Sometimes, it seemed as if he had forgotten the free kick rule. One clear foul was missed, but the rest was not lenient, it was ultra-lenient. I have never seen such a lenient style in the near past, of course it worked, but after having seen him in the Madrid derby where he showed a pretty decent - weak perfomance, I had the impression there was another man in the pitch. The assistant referees Aguilar Rodriguez and Cebrián Devis were faultless, the additional assistant referee made some good calls, too. This style is the direct opposite of all the other Spaniards I know, except Carlos Velasco Carballo, he also showed a perfomance in Schalke-ManU which was comparable to Mateu's style in this match - Mateu was even more lenient. The Spanish refereeing guild should focus on this development..

@ gefluegel

8,5 <-> 6,5 seems to be a huge difference, but it is not like that: I totally agree with you, gefluegel. This style is very dangerous, he had luck. But considering the preference and trust of UEFA towards referees with such styles (Kassai, Cakir...) and the success of it in this specific match, I think nobody can really complain. If it had gone badly, lower marks would have been definitely needed, that is certain.