Unconvincing England Maintain Their 100% Record

Mr Bo Larsen

The tightest fixture in the group rightly got one of UEFA's top elite officials. The Danish Bo Larsen is a consistent performer, and gets the vast majority of decisions correct. It is baffling that he was not at Euro 2008, and is often overlooked when it comes to the big matches in the Champions League.

If we want to nit-pick...

Ukraine had a reasonable shout for a penalty in the first half when Gareth Barry, already on a caution, tugged a Ukrainian shirt a bit too hard. There was also a hint of offside to John Terry's 85th minute winner, thought the assistant was happy enough and his flag stayed down. Rooney was also a lucky man, just getting the ball before felling Oleksandr Aliiev. If he hadn't got the ball it would have been an easy decision for Claus Bo Larsen to get out his red card so perhaps a caution for dangerous play would have been appropriate.

On the other hand...

Bo Larsen was always well positioned to make his judgements, and got the vast majority spot on while the four players who made it into the book can have not complaints. While giving a fair few free kicks he was never the centre of attention, and the players were allowed to get on with the game. I would make a fair bet that most people who watched the game could not tell you who the ref was, and that is a sure sign of a job well done.