A very mixed picture

Difficult task ahead

A spanish derby in the final - this was a hard task for everyone. Kuipers started well, but lost it in half two and extra time allowing too much dissent, pushing and arguing about clear decisions. First yellow was borderline, good was the booking for Ramos who protested against it not being red. But then, Kuipers caved in to protests and talked things down. This wore out quickly, it is not good trying desperately to avoid sending a player off in the final for a second yellow just for the sake of it.

Decisions in the game

His decisions for freekicks were good, he allowed play to develop and he was in the picture. But his body language was passive and almost slow in reacting towards the events that unfolded. Diego Simeone needed to be restrained earlier, but this fits to the performance as a whole. I had hoped for a firmer hand knowing that this would have been even more difficult. It looks to me as Kuipers chose the easier way out by deciding not to look too closely in some departments. Real had the momentum after the 1-1 before the end and won it accordingly.