Armour ref

Michel style

He did this the real Michel style. 7 yellows, one red, one penalty ... perhaps too much whistling, but he did an effort in order to let the game flow. He can't stop play less than he did in this game. The better of Michel was that he missed very few important things ... maybe he could have avoided one or two cards, but almost all of them were OK. So were his calls, but there were some minor mistakes as well, caused - as usual - by a not very efficient job of his assistants Slysko and Balko (they missed two corner kicks).

What was important ...

At the most important moment, Michel was perfect. Toni was fouled by Abidal when he was just about to score, and the referee conceded the penalty and showed a direct red to the French defender. This situation put the Italians ahead and left the French with only 10 players. It was their own (Abidal's) doing.

Au revoir

Italy was better, probably because of that situation in the 24th minute. But my impression is that the Italians deserved to play in the Quarterfinals more than France. They should have won the game against Romania (not France) so they are where they had to be. France missed Zidane too much.