Dire Defence

The man himself

It was an adequate performance from Carlos Velasco in this match. He let a lot of stuff go, but gave enough free kicks to stop a scrappy match from boiling over. I did not agree with every free kick he gave, while there were other times he could have blown the whistle. Ultimately he struck the right balance, even if every decision was not technically correct. Cavani deserved his yellow for repeated dissent, as did Meireles for a reckless challenge. Perhaps Cahills tackle on Lavezzi should have been a red instead of a yellow. As I recall, the assistant referees got all offside decisions correct, although Velasco overruled on one throw in. One observation on Velasco - he always seems to be a long way from play, and I would prefer him to not be more than about 10 m away whenever possible.