After having time to digest and analyze yesterday's tie, I have to agree with the points stated here. I'm not overlooking the fact that players on Real's side did a little bit of diving themselves, but the overreacting of Pedro, Sergio Busquetes and Dani Alves was a disgrace to the game. There was an instance in the first half where Pedro was looking to make a run down the flank and on the replay, clearly changes direction to intentionally run into Arbeloa, then fell to the turf clutching his face; with Pep Guardiola throwing his arms up and Mourinho looking on in disgust. Busquetes attacking Marcelo from behind and going down clutching his face when the Real Mardid player used his arms to shield Sergio on his CHEST. And of course the challenge on Dani Alves which caused Pepe to be sent off. If memory serves right, Pepe did not have any cautions before making this challenge. A straight red with no cautions would have to be one of two things: a player intentionally trying to physically hurt another, or the last man fouling a player during a goal scoring opportunity, its that simple. And to be fair to both teams, Angel Di Maria and Pepe took a dramatic dives themselves, but in these cases, their entire team didn't crowd the official asking for the player to go into the book.
I have no doubt the protest from the players influenced the official to go straight to his pocket and have sent Pepe off, which some whisper was done only to bring the numbers level, as a Barca player was sent off just after halftime. All in all the game turned into a very ugly display of poor sportsmanship from both sides, ruining a potentially great matchup.
I agree with Mourinho here:
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"One day," Mourinho said, pointedly using the Barcelona coach's full name, "I would like Josep Guardiola to win this competition properly."
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"Why Ovrebo [two] years ago [when the Norwegian referee did not give Chelsea a series of penalties against Barcelona]? Why couldn't Chelsea go to the final? Last year it was a miracle that Inter got there playing with 10 men for so long. A miracle. Why weren't there four penalties against Chelsea [in 2009]? Why send off [Arsenal's Robin] Van Persie [in the last 16]? Where does their power come from?
"It could have been 0-0 tonight, but then suddenly we are down to 10 men and they have a free path to find solutions that they could not find before then: we could have played for three hours and they would not have scored. But today we have seen that it is not difficult – it is impossible."
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José Mourinho rages at 'plot' to put Barcelona in the final | Football | The Guardian
The Chelsea game left a bitter taste in my mouth for UEFA officials. I can remember at least 2 solid instances during that game where there were clear penalty kicks, but they weren't called. Van Persie given a straight red for kicking a ball? What is this madness?
Regardless of if you love or hate United, you can respect the fact that for the most part, Sir Alex will not tolerate none of the nonsense of diving and flailing around looking for a free kick. He used to tell Ronaldo when he was at United, as long as you have this shirt on, there will be none of that. I can respect that about him.
If I was a Real Madrid player, I would go to the Camp Nou with such a fire in my belly I would hardly be able to contain myself. Looking at elimination even if Barca draw means you have nothing to lose. I would press high up the field and attack them right out of the gate. No zonal marking, put a man on a man and pressure them every time they touch the ball. I wouldn't let them sit back and play keep away with 1,000 passes, lull you to sleep then hit you with that killer final ball. Test the resolve of their defense straight away. Inter did that last year, and they carved out a result. For all Barcelona's accolades, defensively, they are not that strong. Their strength is in their ability to dictate the game. I think should they advance to the final with United, Sir Alex will do this with Rooney, Hernandez and Nani.
I wish I could be a Barcelona supporter. They have it pretty easy.