FOOTBALL: ANFIELD REF: I RECKON I DID CHELSEA A FAVOUR
May 8 2005

By David Barnes

THE REFEREE in charge of the controversial Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea sensationally broke his silence last night.

Slovakian Lobos Michel, in an exclusive SP interview, reckons Chelsea were LUCKY to concede the winning goal to Luis Garcia at Anfield on Tuesday night.

He explained: "I believe Chelsea would have preferred the goal to count rather than face a penalty with just ten men for the rest of the game.

"If my assistant referee had not signalled a goal, I would have given a penalty and sent off goalkeeper Petr Cech."

Michel who runs a company flogging car tyres in Bratislava, added: "Jose Mourinho shook my hand after the game and did not complain about the goal. I appreciated his gesture.

"I was quite ready to explain everything, but no-one asked me about the situation. I always answer polite questions.

The crescendo of noise from the Anfield crowd cut communications between Michel and Roman Slysco, the linesman who gave the goal. Michel added: "Roman beeped me to signal the foul by Cech, but I didn't know that till later.

"It was the noise from the crowd that stopped me hearing it. I have refereed at places like Barcelona, Ibrox, Manchester United and Arsenal. But I've never in my life been involved in such an atmosphere. It was incredible.

"I did not need the signal from Roman, though. I had already seen the foul and played advantage. There was no doubt in Roman's mind about the goal and he was in the best position to see.

"I chose him to be part of our team and I trust him. He is a heart surgeon and mistaken decisions are not allowed in his job.

"There was not even need to confer. He signalled the goal and sprinted back to the half-way line.

"I have seen the goal scores of times since on TV and have no reason to change my mind. But it would still be fine by me if they brought in technology to decide these things for the World Cup, European Championship and Champions League."

And Michel would be happy if UEFA select him to take charge of future European ties involving English clubs.

He said: "What I like about England is the players are very fair. They don't like to dive, they don't feign injury. Just one yellow card in a match of such intensity shows that.

"Some people were surprised I played six minutes more at the end. I have never given so many before.

"But apart from the subs, I had to take time off for the two people running on the field and the time-wasting by fans keeping the ball."

Class...

Reasonable comments by the ref there.....although he's being fairly generous to the likes of Drogba when it comes to the moaning, playacting, cheating and faking injury.

The story mentions that the referee "runs a company flogging car tyres".

What the heck does that mean (my knowledge of some British terms not used in the U.S. is not good, and in this case, the word "flogging" is what I am referring to)?

I thought "flogging" only referred to something that happened to miscreant British sailors during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Well said referee

and of course you hadn't experienced the like of Tuesday before...

Car tyre salesman eh?

Always the reliable sort

I'd imagine most will be getting the plane, don't worry though you'll be able to hear us in Manchester, I'm sure our singing will drown out the sound of silence eminating from the Old Trafford area.

....they gotta buy the plane tickets first.

Referees always defends their decisions

On the offset, let me state that I couldn't care a hoot whether it was a goal as I support neither clubs.

In my humble opinion, it was a cop-out by the ref in defending his fellow countryman with his AFTER-THE-FACT statement.

""If my assistant referee had not signalled a goal, I would have given a penalty and sent off goalkeeper Petr Cech."

If we had to look at real time, the ref didn't look like he was applying the advantage rule because frankly, Liverpool had lost advantage & possession when Cech felled Baros with the ball running loose & Terry being the nearest player & favourite to clear the ball. It was only because of Garcia's quick thinking that he went to challenge Terry, & in the ensuing clash, the ball deflected upwards & bounced slowly towards goal. We then saw Gallas rush towards the goal-line to clear the ball from under the bar

To state now that he would have given a penalty & sent Cech off if 'the advantage' had not favoured Liverpool is a big laugh when there were so many intervening events between the 'foul' & the goal-line clearance!

Also, how many times have we seen refs not give penalties for similiar incidents or worst( remember Campbell's grabbing of Ruud's shirt a couple of seasons back? No penalty even when Ruud blasted the ball over the bar upon shaking himself off ) ?

The ref made matters worse by going on to explain "The crescendo of noise from the Anfield crowd cut communications between Michel and Roman Slysco, the linesman who gave the goal. Michel added: "Roman beeped me to signal the foul by Cech, but I didn't know that till later" & rounded his ridiculous defence by adding "I have seen the goal scores of times since on TV and have no reason to change my mind.."

I think we can safely say that TV replays have either shown it was inconclusive & therefore the ref was obliged not to allow the goal, or as ITV has shown ( which he must have refused to watch ) that it definitely didn't cross the line.

I'm not faulting Pool in this issue but the ref should have just kept his mouth shut as he looks like the idiot he is by going against convention in his analysis of the advantage rule & what constitutes a goal - or was he misquoted in translation?