A (neutral) article about that penalty call at the Barça X AC Milan match.

To Juca Kfouri [perhaps Brazil's most famous football journalist], fastidious football fans, and other politically correct football moralists...

by Vitor Birner (in Portuguese: http://blogdobirner.virgula.uol.com.br/2012/04/04/juca-kfouri-ze-regrinhas-e-moralistas-futebolisticos-politicamente-corretos-o-post-e-para-voces/)

Next year marks 150 years since the "invention" of modern football.

The making of its rules defined its birth.

People didn't decide to invent them for nothing.

It was necessary to determine the limits of the game.

Only then would it be decent and fair to the teams involved.

The footballers, in any place where the ball is rolling, make their decisions according to what is permitted in practice, on the pitch.

It works like that in professional football, amateur football, and football between friends.

The bigger part of the 14 rules "stuck" in professional football. The referees will call almost all of them when they happen during a match.

I repeat: almost all, not all of them.

E.g. the 6-second limit that goalkeepers have to keep the ball in their hands.

No one gives the foul if they exceed the limit by a little.

The subjective limit, not determined on paper, for a goalkeeper to hold the ball was created by the actions of the referees themselves in the course of thousands of matches.

And the players hold him as a reference.

The same applies for the shirt-pulling inside the box, like Nesta's on Busquets yesterday.

No one ever gives that kind of foul.

And those who do, don't do it every single time it happens.

To apply a rule as an exception, without warning beforehand, is to transform the tool of competitive evenness into a trap.

It makes the contest uneven, unfair, and destroys the very reason the sport's law exists for.

I cannot applaud someone who does that nor the advocates of the rare agents of injustice.

What is on the paper cannot be above reality.

It is really strange that nobody for Barcelona can admit that this is one of the worst calls for a pk in CL history.

You have never seen a pk given for this and you will never see it again.

The whole thing just stinks.

steve_smith wrote:It is really strange that nobody for Barcelona can admit that this is one of the worst calls for a pk in CL history.

You have never seen a pk given for this and you will never see it again.

The whole thing just stinks.

Exactly. That is why I am posting this article. I tried to make this translation as clear as possible, so that they can see how simply wrong it was. They shouldn't take it personal, at least not from my part: I like Barcelona and they deserved the win. But that call was just wrong, and it did change the course of what was becoming quite an interesting match.

steve_smith wrote:It is really strange that nobody for Barcelona can admit that this is one of the worst calls for a pk in CL history.

You have never seen a pk given for this and you will never see it again.

The whole thing just stinks.

Actually Sunderland got a penalty against us ( see supported on left hand side) for something very similar technically according to the rules atleast it was a penalty.

The problem is the refs are not consistent one week you will get a penalty for it and the next week you wont so when someone does get a pen for it then it causes major uproar.

Not a penalty for me becuase you would see 10 penalties a week if that was but according to the rules it is... its all down to the refs to apply those rules consistently.

neutral?

Barca vs Chelsea
Barca vs Arsenal
Barca vs Milan
Barca vs Madrid
Barca vs Inter
Barca vs..????????????just a matter of time

Now if you wanna act like Mr nice guy and keep defending Barca, you never know, your team may be next.

You don't expect me to pretend as if the claim that Barca get help from ref is an hoax, when I clearly see it myself.

I mean one doesn't need rocket science to figure that out, if you are waiting for Uefa to clarify it to you and confirm this biased decisions, I'm sorry you will never get it.

Im watching this match right........ I don't care who wins, I prefer Milan but had 300 and some dollars on Barca to go through. The match was getting interesting at 1-1 then, out of nowhere they give Barcelona a goal essentially. Completely killed the match for me (and everybody else). And before half too.

steve_smith wrote:It is really strange that nobody for Barcelona can admit that this is one of the worst calls for a pk in CL history.

You have never seen a pk given for this and you will never see it again.

The whole thing just stinks.

What? Thiago said he didn't think either were penalties.

billionmillion wrote:neutral?

written by someone who is not a Barcelona or an AC Milan (or a Real Madrid) fan, and in fact someone who's not even Spanish or Italian, and doesn't even care so much about Spanish or Italian clubs. It's a Brazilian journalist who roots for São Paulo F.C. That's neutral for me. His opinion is based on facts not on passion for a club, a coach, or a player.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

steve_smith wrote:It is really strange that nobody for Barcelona can admit that this is one of the worst calls for a pk in CL history.

You have never seen a pk given for this and you will never see it again.

The whole thing just stinks.

Actually Sunderland got a penalty against us ( see supported on left hand side) for something very similar technically according to the rules atleast it was a penalty.

The problem is the refs are not consistent one week you will get a penalty for it and the next week you wont so when someone does get a pen for it then it causes major uproar.

Not a penalty for me becuase you would see 10 penalties a week if that was but according to the rules it is... its all down to the refs to apply those rules consistently.

Exactly, that's what this guy writes on his article: even the refs who DO give that kind of penalty, don't do it EVERY single time it happens, they are not consistent about it. And the fact remains that 90% of the refs don't ever give a penalty for that kind of thing. Therefore, "To apply a rule as an exception, without warning beforehand, is to transform the tool of competitive evenness into a trap. It makes the contest uneven, unfair, and destroys the very reason the sport's law exists for. "

People love milan in brazil, because most brazilian stars play there. I think most people in the world supported milan, because it was barcelona, strongest team in the world. all neutrals support weaker one

example neutrals would love to see
APOEL beating R.Madrid
Marselle beating B.Munich
Benfica beating Chelsea

there is no neutral. and i dont anyone here wanted barcelona to win except barca fans

billionmillion wrote:People love milan in brazil, because most brazilian stars play there. I think most people in the world supported milan, because it was barcelona, strongest team in the world. all neutrals support weaker one

example neutrals would love to see
APOEL beating R.Madrid
Marselle beating B.Munich
Benfica beating Chelsea

there is no neutral. and i dont anyone here wanted barcelona to win except barca fans

I think most Neutrals wanted Bayern vs Madrid.

Neutrals only wants to watch beautiful fair football.

Referee ignores rules = ref sucks

Referee follows rules = ref sucks

billionmillion wrote:People love milan in brazil, because most brazilian stars play there. I think most people in the world supported milan, because it was barcelona, strongest team in the world. all neutrals support weaker one

example neutrals would love to see
APOEL beating R.Madrid
Marselle beating B.Munich
Benfica beating Chelsea

there is no neutral. and i dont anyone here wanted barcelona to win except barca fans

There is no one completely neutral, I agree. That's like claiming you've reached a temperature of absolute zero or that you created a machine with 100% efficiency.

Regardless, he makes a fair point. And instead of arguing you're focusing on a meaningless discussion.

Idrisozet wrote:
I think most Neutrals wanted Bayern vs Madrid.

Neutrals only wants to watch beautiful fair football.

Fair football? Like how Bayern Munich got to the final of the CL in 2010?

Idrisozet wrote:

billionmillion wrote:People love milan in brazil, because most brazilian stars play there. I think most people in the world supported milan, because it was barcelona, strongest team in the world. all neutrals support weaker one

example neutrals would love to see
APOEL beating R.Madrid
Marselle beating B.Munich
Benfica beating Chelsea

there is no neutral. and i dont anyone here wanted barcelona to win except barca fans

I think most Neutrals wanted Bayern vs Madrid.

Neutrals only wants to watch beautiful fair football.

neutrals also want barcelona vs madrid final. but they dont care about it as much as they care about enjoying barca or madrid lose in any stage

zizzle wrote:

LOL

oh hey brady, how did u end up here ?

whats so different about this thread ? could have continued in the main milan v barca thread

RealGunner wrote:whats so different about this thread ? could have continued in the main milan v barca thread

It's about the arguments presented in the article about the penalty. The other thread was about the entire game. Sure it could be there, but if I just wrote it in the thread, 5% of the people would read it and discuss its content. Therefore I think it's worth its own thread. It's more organized than in the other thread. P.S. I love the hostility.

billionmillion wrote:People love milan in brazil, because most brazilian stars play there. I think most people in the world supported milan, because it was barcelona, strongest team in the world. all neutrals support weaker one

example neutrals would love to see
APOEL beating R.Madrid
Marselle beating B.Munich
Benfica beating Chelsea

there is no neutral. and i dont anyone here wanted barcelona to win except barca fans

This a very personal assumption coming from you. There is no statistics, not even a research on the subject, therefore it is not a fact, and not a valid argument, just a very loose, uninformed opinion. You are assuming that you know how the majority of the 200 million of Brazilians feel about two foreign clubs, and that is not how it works. Try again, barça fan.

RealGunner wrote:oh hey brady, how did u end up here ?

oh hey RG, I see you are part of the admin now...so can I be a mod?

PS. I got here via google...

This article is sh¡t. It is false that this kind of penalties are almost never whistled and the rules are there.

Cuenca was given a yellow card for doing the same as Nesta in the midield...

There is a reason why football rules are so strict with holding/grabbing, it's because football comes from rugby, and not allowing the holding/grabbing was initially one of the biggest differences between both sports.

free_cat wrote:This article is sh¡t. It is false that this kind of penalties are almost never whistled and the rules are there.

Cuenca was given a yellow card for doing the same as Nesta in the midield...

There is a reason why football rules are so strict with holding/grabbing, it's because football comes from rugby, and not allowing the holding/grabbing was initially one of the biggest differences between both sports.

Wow, a Barcelona fan/(Catalunya nationalist/separatist?) is saying that the article is shit. I am so surprised.

Don't give me this bs example about Cuenca. The discussion is about inside the box. The fact remains that it is 95% of the time, when it's inside the box, it is NOT given.

Stop your bias, please. Let's talk about reality.

Then what you should do rsinatra is criticize the REF who dont follow the rule..
A foul is a foul even if its inside the penalty area..

I have said it before and I will say it again, first time ever that I see the ref get criticize for FOLLOWING the rules