This past weekend's football action was filled with controversies and near miss embarrassment. This occured in the FA Cup, Premier League and La Liga. A referee was called out; a ghost goal was disallowed and pure luck was needed for a win. This past weekend could be described as a non-typical one. It was an anamoly.
The FA Cup semi-finals took place this past weekend. It was Manchester United vs. Coventry City and Manchester City vs. Chelsea. The former match is the one that grabbed my attention first. Man Utd were coasting through the match 3-0 against a Championship (second tier) side. With a simple snap of the fingers, that scoreline soon read 3-3 at full time. Extra time was then played. Coventry had all the chances during that half-hour period with one shot hitting the crossbar. Victor Torp belived that he had scored the winner in the 121st minute. However, it was chalked off due an offside. It went to penalties where United won 4 - 2.
After the match, Man Utd manager, Erik ten Hag, was asked the question if he considered the result an embarrassment or an achievement. He said, "I can't say that word (embarrassment) because, at the end of the day, it's about the achievement. I see the mistakes we make - we can't look away from it - but it's not an embarrassment. It's a huge achievement." In ten Hag's defence, he did admit that they got away with it.
I don't know what match he was watching. Seeing your team let slip a three goal lead being diminished in 20 minutes and still only going through on penalties is a joke. If it wasn't for lady luck, the club would probably be the laughing stock for all eternity. Thank God that didn't happen. I don't how long I could take it.
In the other semi-final, Man City defeated Chelsea 1-0. Despite the result, Chelsea were the better team. Man City battled to find any rhythm. A former teammmate - Cole Palmer - was oozing with confidence. Nicolas Jackson wasn't in the same mindset. He struggled to capitalise on his chances including header from close range. As time was ticking towards the 90th minute, it looked like it was heading towards extra time. However, Bernado Silva had other plans. He would score in the 84th minute to secure the win. I would like to thank Ryan Lieberthal for bringing up this match to me in regard to Chelsea's dominance in the match.
It will be a Manchester derby final for the second year in a row. This is history making. This is because it's the first time in 139 years that the same two teams would contest the FA Cup final in consecutive years. The last instance was way back in 1885 where QPR (Queens Park Rangers) and Blackburn played in the final in 1884 and 1885.
In the Premier League, Everton defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0. However, Forest accussed VAR (Video Assistant Referee) referee for the match, Stuart Atwell, of being a Luton Town fan. This is in response to Atwell not telling the match referee, Anthony Taylor, to go to the monitor for three separate penalty calls. Both Forest and Luton are fighting a relegation battle and a Forest win would've pulled them a bit further away from the battle. They claimed that they warned the PGMOL (Profesional Game Match Officals Limited), the ones who place the referees for matches, that Atwell is a Luton fan. They have reqested for the VAR audio from the match. As of this writing, nothing has been confirmed or released.
In Spain, El Clasico took place. This is the term to describe the matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona. This encounter took place at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid's home ground. Despite the rivalry, what made this match a controversial one was a ghost goal that wasn't given to Barcelona. Lamine Yamal's clever near-post flick seemed to have crossed the line before Andriy Lunin shovelled it away. However, La Liga's lack of goal-line technology meant the decision had to be sent to VAR - which couldn't make a clear decision as to whether the ball was in the net. At that time, Barcelona was leading 2-1. Real Madrid would win this encounter 3-2 thanks to a late Jude Bellingham goal.
Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, has said, "If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, we will move ahead and we do not discount requesting that the game be replayed...." This is just one statement of a lengrhy statement that he made in response to the disallowed goal.
To me, this whole weekend was a mess. It's hard to concentrate on one matter when there are others to talk about. This is head spinning. Headaches could be created as a result. Ten Hag should've had an immediate reality check; it's wrong to accuse a referee of supporting a 'rival' club - VAR calls can sometimes be subjective and a call for a replay just because of an error is absurd. What should be done is La Liga adopting goal-line technology to avoid any further duplicate issues.