Bjorn Lawless

Kuipers vs Eriksson

Not very often do we get in back-to-back encounters refereeing decisions of the flip-and-flop of the same coin. In the first leg of the Barcelona-Milan duel, Mr. Eriksson didn't award penalties to Barca. The first case, for which the final word was given to aar Strombergsson, was a classic case of 50-50, where whatever way the decision was going half the crowd would have applauded while the other half would have booed. The second decision came when Puyol's shirt had been pulled in the Milan penalty-area before he headed the ball just inches off the post. The angle the replay camera gave us demonstrated clearky the referee having an excellent sight of the situation. But we didn't see when the corner-kick which reached Puyol's head, was taken. Let me dissent from the opinion many had expressed: I'm pretty sure the infringement had been made before the corner-kick was taken, thus the ball was not in play!!! Yes, the ref. should have whistled, yes, he should have a cautionary word with the players, yes, he probably might have even booked someone. But no!! there was no way to award a penalty-kick, just a retake of the corner-kick. By now, I'm sure all of you know where I stand in the Kuipers affair. The ref was close to the action, alert and adamant in awarding the first penalty-kick which put Barca ahead (10'). No doubt, a certain percentage of viewers would disagree with the ref's decisin, but c'est la vie... Later Milan equalised (32') and then came the make-or-break decision which for me was "a violation of the constitution"!! Yes, Nesta pulled an opponent's shirt inside the Milan penalty-area, yes, the ref. had every right and authority to reprimand the players and caution the culprit with a yellow card. But no!!! never should he awarded a penalty-kick as the incident had started many seconds before the corner-kick was taken. Which means, the ball was out of play (!!!) when the incident happened. Corner-kick to be retaken. Otherwise, violation of a "constitutional" rule. The "otherwise" happened. Sorry...