As a fellow countryman of the ref

I feel obliged to defend him a bit here.

The challenge by Del Horno on Messi was a bad one. I would judge it between a yellow and a red. With the previous tackle also in mind, I think a sending off can be justified.

Del Horno went in at a high pace, and it may not have been his main intention to body-check Messi, but he missed the ball by a mile, and it is highly dangerous play.

But I do think Hauge (the ref) and his assistants had a mediocre game overall. Terry shold have had a penalty judged against him when he ran into Messi (think it was Messi anyway).

The tension was obviously increased by the sending-off, so it was no easy game to referee.

Posted By: BB_King, Feb 23, 10:02:54