Howard's Way

Discipline

Webb has a unique way of maintaining discipline. His physical presence is intimidating, and when he gives a verbal warning it carries gravitas. This means he doesn't necessarily need to book players when other referees might have to in order to keep control. And because he isn't constantly flashing cards, the players seem to afford him more respect. His ability to stare down a player is reminiscent of Pierluigi Collina. The three cards he issued were correct, with Chivu's being for persistent infringement and not for that tackle in particular. He should perhaps have shown a card or spoken to a couple of players for going to ground too easily, but this was not a significant scurge on the match.

Fouls

His foul detection was pretty good. He awarded 29 free kicks in total (13 to Bayern, 16 to Inter), and while a few of these were a little on the soft side, none were explicitly wrong. He wasn't constantly stopping play, and allowed the match to flow quite freely. He played an excellent advantage in the bulid up to Inter's second goal. In the first half Bayern appealed for a penalty after the ball struck Macion's arm, but it was plainly accidental and Webb made the correct decision.

General style

He seems to be able to anticipate play well, and is always close to key incidents thus making his decisions more credible. (Even in matches where he has made mistakes, he was always in good positions to make those decisions...). He uses much more of the pitch than many referees, going wider to the wings or deeper into the penalty area, and his fitness is second to none. He was well supported by Cann and Mullarkey, who got all offside decisions spot on. He style is very different to a lot of European referees, and when he gets it right he is outstanding as per tonight. What a turnaround from last year's quarterfinal at the Nou Camp, a performance which I thought should have seen him demoted from the Elite list.

Feel sorry for Claus Bo

This should have been Claus bo Larsen's final. He has been an outstanding servant of UEFA, and is the perfect model of empathetic and undertsated refereeing. We will never know why he never got a major final, or why he never went to a major tournament. I'm sure he would have been great in this match, now he will not get another chance.