The underrated Englishman

The ref

The last round of the CL preliminaries is generally reserved to Elite Referees or to young and upcoming tested before the "Gates of Cl" are opened to them. Andre Marriner is neither-nor. At 45 years of age he already sees the finishing line of his international career. They never provided him with too many chances to shine on the world's stage (as a matter of fact, he isn't regarded too highly in the EPL either). But surprise, surprise, he got a gem of a game to demonstrate his abilities. Alas. Gladbach obliterated Young Boys very early in the game (3-0 at half-time), leaving Marriner with an easy task instead of a challenging one. And he provided us with a solid performance.

The ars

Though it looks like an easy encounter, the ars had a lot of work on their hands, as Gladbach played a very quick pace, using both wings, which made it very difficult for the ars, as they weren't provided wit the best of perspectives (especially when the ball was played on the right flank, very close to the ar). Though Beck and Burt might have made some marginal errors, deeming a situation to be offside/onside, I think they were up to the job (I reckon Burt to be marginally better than Beck).