Referee Tom Henning Ovrebo sends off Fiorentina's
Massimo Gobbi, one of the poor decisions suffered by the Italians
in their defeat at Bayern Munich. Photograph: Andreas
Gebert/EPA
Louis van Gaal is never normally humble or self-effacing, and
the Bayern Munich coach's comments after his side needed the
dodgiest of last-minute winners to beat Fiorentina at home in the
Champions League immediately aroused
suspicions.
"We have won but we have been a bit lucky," Van Gaal said.
"Fiorentina played very well, we could not work them out, and the
goal we scored at the end was clearly offside."
At first sight that seems refreshing, an antidote to all the
managers who share Arsène Wenger's blind spot when it comes to
contentious incidents or follow the Arsenal manager's example when
he does see something and excoriates the referee for costly
mistakes instead of pointing the finger at, say, Sol Campbell or
Lukasz Fabianski. Check the small print, however, and it turns out
Van Gaal was speaking in code. What he really meant was that when
you have Tom Henning Ovrebo as your Champions League referee you
just have to be thankful when the randomness of his decision-making
works in your favour. Arjen Robben said almost exactly the same
thing just as diplomatically when asked about the referee's
performance after the game.
If only everything in life could be as reasonable as Bayern's
Dutchmen. Unfortunately it cannot, and nor is it as easy to be
philosophical when unreasonable decisions have cost you a game.
Here, for example, is what the Fiorentina coach, Cesare Prandelli,
had to say about the 2-1 defeat in Munich: "We did everything right
on the field. We only failed to double up our marking on the
officials. Three incidents changed the game – Massimo Gobbi's
dismissal, Miroslav Klose not getting sent off and the offside
goal." Given that Klose should not have been on the pitch when he
scored the winner from a ludicrously offside position – like his
team-mate Mark van Bommel the German was allowed to get away with a
studs-up challenge far worse than the shoulder barge for which
Gobbi was sent off – it is tempting to conclude that what actually
affected the result more than any other factor was the identity of
the official. It turns out the worst referee Guus Hiddink has ever
seen has not been packed off to officiate under-13s games in his
native Norway, as witnesses of last season's debacle at Stamford
Bridge were demanding at the time, but is still running and ruining
Champions League matches.
Who was it again who said you get a better standard of
refereeing in Europe? Oh yes, that short-tempered bloke at Old
Trafford, shortly before he changed his mind when Manchester United
were beaten at home by Besiktas. "Deary, deary me," was how Sir
Alex Ferguson reacted to Ovrebo's latest clanger. He might have
taken the words right out of Wenger's mouth, for Arsenal certainly
did not see refereeing of the required standard at Porto, when
they, too, were undermined by a Scandinavian official with
previous.
It was possible to feel sorry for Martin Hansson during the
Thierry Henry furore – the referee could hardly be blamed for
missing the handball first time round and it was not his fault he
could not consult a monitor – yet his inept role in the back‑pass
incident gave Wenger every cause for indignation. There is nothing
wrong with an attacking side taking a free-kick quickly to take
advantage of position and defensive disarray, but it is not the
referee's job to obtain the ball for them to do so. Once the
referee asks for the ball he needs to ensure both sides are ready
before releasing it. If the ball is already on the floor or in the
possession of the attacking side it is a different matter, but
Wenger's complaint was fair. The referee takes the ball in order to
take control, not to facilitate a quick free-kick that is
impossible to defend.
While being conscious that Premier League-style demotion of
erring officials would leave the Champions League in the hands of a
core of referees from leading nations, Uefa
nevertheless need to acknowledge the potential for mishap inherent
when the best players in the world are sometimes refereed by
semi-professionals from quieter football backwaters such as Norway
and Sweden.
When not in downright denial – the Uefa website's otherwise
extensive coverage of the week's action makes no special mention of
Ovrebo or Hansson and contains no hint of outrageously poor
decisions – the authorities are content to back their referees and
let them gain experience on the job. As a policy this is admirable
and painful at the same time, and the knowledge that some of the
biggest games in the European calendar are at the mercy of clownish
bungling by the men supposedly in charge at least keeps the
knockout rounds watchable.
Ferguson makes a good point when he says Ovrebo is under
pressure because of what happened last season and clearly in need
of a rest, and it may be the case that adverse publicity is making
referees nervous and exacerbating the problem, yet given their
commitment to all member countries that leaves Uefa in a bit of a
fix. If they strike off Ovrebo, what do they do next? Send for the
second-best ref in Norway?