Jens Lehmann did his best to sour Spain's Euro 2008
triumph in Vienna with a bitter attack on the referee and a jibe at
the match-winner Fernando Torres. Germany's outspoken ex-Arsenal
keeper hit out at Italian referee Roberto Rosetti, describing him
"as very arrogant and biased" in favour of the new champions in
their 1-0 victory.
And as Torres talked of his ambition to now become the world's
best player after his 33rd-minute winner, Lehmann insisted he was
still not in the same class as Thierry Henry. Lehmann, who will
join Stuttgart now the championships are over, confronted Rosetti
at the end of the match. He said: "In my opinion the performance of
the referee was disappointing - he didn't really fancy us Germans.
That's what I was telling him afterwards. He was very arrogant and
in my opinion he was biased.
"He clearly saw a headbutt from a Spanish player (David Silva)
on (Lukas) Podolski and he didn't book him or give him a red card
or anything. "Then, just before the end, we had a good chance in
the penalty area and he gave a foul against us when even the
Spanish players were surprised."
After Torres had produced a brilliant finish to beat the
onrushing Lehmann, the Liverpool marksman revealed: "I want to win
more titles and become the most important player in Europe and the
world." But when asked about Torres's quality, Lehmann said: "Well,
he scored and that's what you have to do as a striker but you're
asking someone who played together for years with Thierry Henry and
he was a God, performance-wise, when he was in England. "So when
you take him and compare him to other strikers, there's a
difference and Torres is definitely still not at Thierry's
level."
