| Our
performance of the week this week didn't come in the weekend round of league
matches, but in Thursday's UEFA cup. One of the Spanish league's top referees
José María García-Aranda Encinar, a Madrid born University
professor and a man who has been praised in these pages for his moderation when
it comes to dishing out the little squares of coloured card, finally went off
his rocker. True we had seen it coming recently with an uncharacteristic couple
of games when the card count rose alarmingly, but we couldn't expect the
performance he gave in the second leg of the match between Liverpool and Roma
which brought Spanish refereeing in to the limelight. With twelve minutes to go
and with Roma pushing to level the tie, a ball in to the area struck Hamann's
arm. Maybe it was accidental, but García-Aranda clearly pointed to the
penalty spot as Liverpool players surrounded him in protest. But in the next
second his hand went up again and pointed at the corner flag without a word of
explanation. Roma were gobsmacked, and in the ensuing argy-bargy four Roma
players were booked, their captain Tomassi getting sent off a few minutes later
when he picked up a second yellow card for a hard tackle. All in all nine
yellows and a red, all for Roma players, and, dare I say it, Spain had taken
revenge for that World Cup defeat in France two or three years ago. And he is
one of the best we have! García-Aranda's performance must have left the
other Spanish referees stunned, or maybe they decided to lie low for a couple
of weeks imagining men in dark glasses carrying violin cases calling the
referees' federation with heavy Italian accents and asking for names and
addresses, but whatever the reason this was the lowest number of cards given
out in the season to date. Only 38 yellows and one red, an average of below
four cards per game! Three teams, Real Madrid, Valladolid and Málaga
didn't get any cards at all, and five others only got the one. The normally
'tarjetero' Pérez Burrull only produced one yellow in all the match,
last year's winner Llonch Andreu showed two, and one of our three leaders
Turienzo Alvarez only managed three. The only man to risk a red card was
Puentes Leira, who sent off Espanyol's Tamudo (genuine Spanish passport)
directly , and two referees, Andradas Asurmendi and Carmona Méndez,
awarded penalties, but were careful to award one to each side just in case any
of the shareholders were Italian. The referees annual coach trip to Palermo has
apparently been cancelled. (26.02.01 |
