One of the wildest Champions League matches of all time had one of the wildest endings imaginable.
Tottenham Hotspur — and VAR — threw a wrench into Manchester City’s quest for an unprecedented quadruple on Wednesday at Etihad Stadium in Manchester. Spurs lost 4-3 on the day but advanced 4-4 on aggregate by way of away goals into the Champions League semifinals, where Ajax awaits.
The English commentator summed up the Ashley Barnes yellow card perfectly:
“The game has gone completely when you’re booked for kissing,” he said.
Barnes, a Burnley forward with double-digit Premier League goals this season, went into referee Mike Dean’s book just before halftime in a 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Cardiff City on Saturday.
The incident followed Cardiff’s Joe Bennett tugging Barnes down from behind, a clear yellow card.
But in addition to booking Bennett, Dean showed Ashley Barnes yellow after the two momentarily clashed head to head.
On Tuesday night, Liverpool saw off Benfica 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. It was fairly routine for the Reds, who could have scored more but also could’ve conceded a couple. Regardless of the final result, Liverpool was a bit lucky the Mo Salah tackle on Danilo Pereira did not draw severe punishment.
Mentally, Diego Costa isn’t entirely there. Look at the 26 yellow cards he received over his three-year Premier League stay for ample evidence of the striker’s propensity to be a mad lad.
Cardiff City sat third bottom of the Premier League table and, coming into Sunday, had eight games to go to claw its way out of the relegation zone. Cardiff’s schedule seems daunting, having to play Chelsea, Manchester City and the team above them, Burnley, in its upcoming three matches.
Chelsea arrived in Cardiff today looking for what was supposed to be three easy points. To be fair to Cardiff, it seemed like a match that would not be won. But that wasn’t necessarily the case.
Swansea City was on the verge of a season-defining victory against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday. Then Raheem Sterling threw himself to the ground under a challenge from USMNT defender Cameron Carter-Vickers and the entire match dynamic changed.
You gotta feel bad for Cagliari regista Luca Cigarini.
During a Serie A match against Fiorentina on Friday, Cigarini scored what could have been the best goal of his career, launching a free kick from his own half into the back of the net.
But the goal didn’t count.
No, it wasn’t the result of VAR or suspicious refereeing (well, maybe a little of the latter). Instead, it was a case of a direct vs indirect free kick scenario.
It’s rare we get to do this, so let’s take a moment today to celebrate FIFA for having some common sense. Football’s world governing body confirmed the use of video assistant referees at this summer’s Women’s World Cup. The Women's World Cup VAR decision was made Friday, a month after FIFA trialed the technology with referees at the Al Kass Cup, a youth club competition.
This will be the first time VAR is in use for a Women’s World Cup.
First things first, before we talk about controversy or points of contention with referees, we have to simply talk about the game and how it actually flowed. After Atlético Madrid’s sensational performance at the Wanda Metropolitano on Feb. 20, this was an absolute debacle at Juventus Stadium on Tuesday.
It’s difficult to remember a time when Diego Simeone got things so ineffably wrong. How could Atlético go from this (cojones):
Last Sunday, an indoor soccer match between Rockford, Illinois-based San Jose FC and FC Wisconsin U-19 descended into madness in Brookfield, Wisconsin, when a skirmish ultimately resulted in a referee getting punched in the face.
The referee, 50-year-old Terry From, approached a boy who’d thrown a water bottle in his direction, identified as the 12-year-old son of San Jose FC’s coach, before being punched by a 17-year-old San Jose FC player, identified as the older brother of the 12-year-old.