Football’s biggest notches. These games were daylight robberies

Football is not only decided by beautiful goals and defenders’ mistakes, often referees also enter the game. Sometimes their mistakes damage one or the other team, sometimes only slightly, but sometimes it is a cruel cut. Whether there is intent behind it or not, many footballers make no secret of the fact that there is no worse feeling of helplessness than when you are playing against fourteen people. Here are the 3 biggest notches in recent memory.

Of course, there have been several moments in history where a team has been robbed because of a player’s cheating behavior. These include Diego Maradona’s divine hand or Thierry Henry’s set palm. The teams of England and Ireland respectively certainly felt incredibly aggrieved, but it was player cheating that the referee overlooked.

In this article, we will focus on matches in which the referee, through a series of several errors, visibly affected the entire match. Almost everyone who has ever played football has experienced a similar match at a lower level, but similar situations have happened at the highest level. Even the Champions League has had some huge upsets, let’s take a look at the biggest ones.

3. Real Madrid – Bayern, Champions League quarter-final 2016/2017

The first match at the Allianz Arena was dominated by the visitors, with Real Madrid winning 2-1 thanks to two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo. The return leg in normal time was handled better by Bayern and went to extra time after a 2-1 scoreline. The star Portuguese scored twice again, with Asensio adding the insurance. But after the match, it was not only the result that was discussed.

The match was affected by several bad decisions of the referees. Viktor Kassai of Hungary could have first sent off Casemiro in the 80th minute after several tackles on Robben. The Brazilian midfielder already had one yellow card, the referee first reached into his pocket but then changed his mind. But 5 minutes later, he had already pulled out the red card, Vidal was in the showers for his tackle on Asensio.

After a pass from Boateng, Robert Lewandowski could have raced through on goal himself, but the linesman waved offside. It was not, however, Marcelo who was forgotten behind the defensive line. Then, in extra time, Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals, but both were offside.

2. Barcelona – PSG, 2016/17 Champions League semi-final

For Barcelona fans, this is the best turnaround in history, but in Paris they don’t like to remember this day very much. Of course, the four-goal lead was mainly ruined by themselves, but the referee helped a lot with his mistakes. In the 18th minute Draxler looks for a pass underneath his teammate, the ball in the whitewash did not go through because of Mascherano’s hand.

If PSG had converted the penalty, they would have equalised at 1-1 and repelled Barcelona’s pressure. German referee Deniz Aytekin then completely misjudged a situation that could have decided the game. Instead, he whistled the penalty for the Blaugranas. Meunier staggered and fell to the ground, his head was deftly tackled by Neymar and it was a penalty.

It probably could have been whistled, but it certainly doesn’t go hand in hand with the following situation. At 3-1 to the home side, Di María was rushing alone towards goal and was unceremoniously brought down from behind by Mascherano in the whitewash. The Argentine himself admitted after the game that it was a foul. The video shows the home fans clutching their heads as they knew it must have been a clear penalty. But the whistle never blew.

The penalty to Luis Suárez in the 90th minute is almost legendary. The Uruguayan striker charged up the high arch into the penalty area, Marquinhos put his hand on his chest and the Barcelona striker went down like a gunshot catching his neck in the process. But the referee ate up his acting etude, sending Barcelona into the Champions League quarter-finals.

1. Chelsea – Barcelona, Champions League semi-final 2008/09

Clearly the greatest robbery in football history, even fans of other English clubs felt sorry for the Chelsea players that day. The Norwegian referee Tom Henning Øvrebø must have hated Chelsea, otherwise there is no other way to explain his transgressions. Chelsea started the game better when Essien sent them into the lead with a fantastic volley in the 9th minute. But then the head referee took over.

In the 24th minute, Dani Alves fouled Malouda in the whitewash, so a penalty should have followed. But the referee incomprehensibly pulled the situation out and made it a direct kick. A few minutes later, Drogba was rushing towards the goal alone, he was held up by Abidal from behind, and he was also given a penalty. Another clear penalty that the Norwegian referee didn’t see, as he was almost the only one in the stadium.

In the 82nd minute, Anelka tried to round Piqué in the whitewash, but he stopped the ball with a volley. You don’t find many clearer hand penalties in football anymore. Even the Spaniard himself admitted after the game that it was a clear hand. Øvrebø’s whistle, however, once again remained mute. In the 90th minute, Iniesta equalised to send Barcelona into the final. However, it might not be decided yet.

In the last minute of the setup, Ballack’s shot was stopped in the whitewash again by Eto’o’s hand, but the referee indicated play on. The German midfielder was so frustrated that he sprinted after the referee and chased him for a good 15 metres, screaming in his ear from inches away. After the game, a video of Didier Drogba waving his arms angrily at the camera saying, ” It’s a f*ng disgrace,” loosely translated.

Source: Youtube, UEFA