The referee who awarded a controversial "goal from the
moon" against Chelsea will take charge of the Champions League
Final with Manchester United on Wednesday. Slovakian Lubos Michel
was heavily criticised by then Blues boss Jose Mourinho after
judging that Luis Garcia's effort had crossed the line at Anfield
in the second leg of the European semi-final against Liverpool in
2005.
Mourinho moaned at the time it was "a goal from the moon" and
added: "Football sometimes is cruel. We have to accept the result.
They scored a goal, if you can say they scored it." Michel has
officiated in a Chelsea match since, having taken charge of the
group match with Werder Bremen last season — Mourinho's team lost
that game 1-0 as well.
The referee, who was 40 last Friday, is regarded as one of the
top officials in Europe. The former teacher speaks English,
Russian, German and Polish and was ranked the world's third best
referee in 2005, second best in 2006 and third best again last
year.
But he also drew criticism from Martin O'Neill after he took
charge of the 2003 UEFA Cup Final between Porto and Celtic. Michel
was accused of poor officiating after sending off Celtic defender
Bobo Balde for a second bookable offence during the Scots' 3-2
defeat in Seville.
Celtic manager O'Neill, who faced a UEFA inquiry because of his
complaints about Michel's performance, felt the official tolerated
an excessive amount of time wasting by Porto. Mourinho benefited
from the decisions made by Michel that day as he was still in
charge at Porto.
His replacement at Stamford Bridge, Avram Grant, will be hoping
for the same in Moscow but he may still lose his job even if
Chelsea win on Wednesday. It looks increasingly likely that Grant
will move back upstairs next season and resume his role as director
of football.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHHuhgfItx4
"goal from the moon" ?