The busiest 60 seconds of the weekend for a referee? We’ll go with Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea’s extra time minute in the Copa Del Rey final in Seville between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the latter having just the three men sent off.
“In the 120th minute, Antonio Rudiger was sent off for throwing an object towards me from the technical area. After being shown the red card, he had to be restrained by several members of the technical staff, showing an aggressive attitude.”
“In the 120th minute, Lucas Vazquez was sent off for protesting one of our decisions, entering several metres on to the field of play, making gestures of disagreement.”
“In the 120th minute, Jude Bellingham was sent off for the following reason: After the match had finished, he approached officials in an aggressive manner and had to be restrained by his team-mates.”
The teams were probably back home by the time the poor man finished his referee’s report.
QUOTE
“I have been trying to improve my sleep – but it doesn’t happen overnight.”
Brighton manager Fabian Hürzeler on the stresses of the job turning him in to an insomniac.
Divine intervention bring Welbeck to Arsenal
The death of Pope Francis was, of course, the major international news story of last week, and it’s not unusual for folk in the scribbling trade to seek out links between events of such enormity and their own particular line of work, no matter how tenuous they might be. This one possibly tops the lot.
We’d love to credit the originator of this story, but it appeared in so many English outlets, we have no clue who first went to the trouble of digging out a decade-old interview with Wenger.
In it he recalled queuing up for a long-planned private audience with the Pope in the Vatican on transfer deadline day in 2014. “The advantage of that day was I had to get up at 6 o’clock in the morning for my flight and I was available the whole day,” he said. So that gave him ample time to chat on the phone with a player’s agent while he queued.
So, last week’s headline? “Arsene Wenger: Pope Francis helped me sign Danny Welbeck!” A, eh, divine intervention, that.
NUMBER: 120
That’s how many major trophies – 120! – Celtic have now won after wrapping up the league on Saturday. Mind you, they’re still five behind the world’s most successful club, Egypt’s Al-Ahly.
WORD OF MOUTH
“This is the worst Tottenham team in Premier League history. It’s embarrassing – it’s like watching a preseason friendly between a Tottenham XI and Dartford.”
And you’d have a notion Spurs old-boy Jamie O’Hara would put his money on Dartford.
“The message is that they have to play every ball with us, so I would say bring your boots, your shin pads, your shorts, your T-shirts!”
Mikel Arteta asking the Arsenal faithful to get kitted out for their Champions League semi-final meeting with PSG. Good luck to the officials figuring out offsides.
“I talk to the players a lot about the stone cutters’ creed. Only the 101st blow cracks the rock but no one sees the other 100 blows. And they think it’s the last one that does it. It’s not. Time will tell whether what I’ve tried to do over the last two years gets us to crack that stone.”
No wonder Ange Postecoglou’s players look confused.
The fickle world of football management
A week ago, Inter Milan were on for a treble, but after losing to Bologna in the league, getting knocked out of the Coppa Italia by AC Milan and having the not insignificant obstacle of Barcelona to get past to reach the Champions League final, it’s squeaky bottom time. From being hailed as the messiah, then, coach Simone Inzaghi is now being portrayed in some quarters as a bit of a mug. Former Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi has, though, come to his defence.
“The world of football, at times, is incomprehensible. In Madrid they criticise Carlo Ancelotti, so anything goes. After the victory in Munich against Bayern, Simone Inzaghi was a phenomenon – 15 days later he’s a donkey? Mistakes might have been made, but have you ever made a mistake or are you perfect? Errare humanum est.” Eloquent.
