Sunday 1 May 2011

Frank de Bleeckere Gets El Clasico No. 5


Uefa has handed Frank de Bleeckere the task of refereeing the Champions League match between Barcelona and Real Madrid on Tuesday – an appointment unlikely to go down well with the Madrid manager, José Mourinho.

Mourinho last week accused referees of favouring the Catalan side after his team lost 2-0 to Barça in the first leg of their semi-final at the Bernabéu.

The Portuguese was enraged by the dismissal of the makeshift midfielder Pepe by Wolfgang Stark and afterwards read out a list of officials he believes have made decisions which have benefited Barça in previous years.

The Belgian De Bleeckere was on that list after opting to send off Thiago Motta in the last-four clash last season between Internazionale, then managed by Mourinho, and Barcelona.

Television replays later showed there had been little contact between Motta and Sergio Busquets, with the Spain midfielder even peering through his fingers to see what action the referee was taking as he rolled about on the floor.

"I can't say what I feel. I only leave one question. Why?" said Mourinho on Wednesday. "Why? Ovrebo, Busacca, Frisk, Stark, De Bleeckere. Why to all these people. Each semi-final always brings the same. We're talking about a fantastic football team. So why?"

Tom Henning Ovrebo turned down a number of penalty appeals for Chelsea when Barcelona knocked out the London club two years ago, Massimo Busacca harshly sent off Arsenal's Robin van Persie in the round-of-16 clash this season, and Anders Frisk dismissed Didier Drogba six years ago as Barça came from behind to beat Mourinho's Chelsea in a last-16 first leg match.


No comments: