European football: Zeroes of the weekend featuring Ramires, Dortmund and Manuel Pellegrini
They say a moment of brilliance can decide close games, but so can some horrific blunders, moments of madness that tend to change the game for the worse.
Along with its collection of heroes, the game throws up its fair share of villains who did their best to help their team in a losing cause or at worst leave a bad taste in the mouth with their actions.
Here are this week’s candidates:
Andre Marriner and Robert Madley
West Brom pair Boaz Myhill and Gareth McAuley appeal to referee Andre Marriner after he awards a late penalty to Chelsea during the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge on November 09, 2013 in London, England.
The two gentlemen Andre Mariner and Robert Madley were put on the spot, quite literally, as another week of Premier League action came to a close with two games being talked about for the referees and the decisions they made.
On Saturday, Mariner awarded the controversial last gasp penalty when he deemed that Ramires had been fouled in the box. West Brom were on the verge of a famous win at Stamford Bridge leading 2-1, before the penalty incident and Eden Hazard stepped up to slot home and keep intact Jose Mourinho’s record of never having lost a league game at home as Chelsea manager.
On Sunday, Madley was in the spotlight for similar reasons when he acted equally late in the game to award a rather harsh penalty to Stoke City when the ball brushed the hands of Wayne Routledge on its way out.
In Chelsea’s case, it was a clear dive from Ramires, who went down under the challenge of a normal shoulder dash. It was a harsh decision on West Brom, as even after conceding the second goal, Chelsea really had not looked very threatening.
The other game was in a very similar situation. An entertaining game at the Liberty Stadium had seen Swansea fight back from going a goal down to lead 3-2 going into the final minutes thanks to Wilfried Bony’s well taken double. The ball did brush Routledge’s hand, but he did not have his arms up in an unnatural position and the contact was merely the consequence of the winger being in the way of the shot.
Charlie Adam converted the spot kick and Swansea were denied the full three points, just like West Brom.
Manuel Pellegrini
Manchester City’s Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini looks on from the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Sunderland and Manchester City at Stadium of Light in Sunderland, northeast England on November 10, 2013. Sunderland won 1-0
City have been woeful away from home this term; they have won just one of their five games, drawn another and lost three.
The pattern is getting a little worrisome for City fans as they see their team resplendent at home, putting away opponents with minimal fuss, yet the same sort of magic has not been replicated away.
Manuel Pellegrini will be asked some serious questions after his team selection left plenty of room for introspection. He fielded a back-four which has never played together before in Aleksandr Kolarov, Micah Richards, Joleon Lescott and Martin Demichelis.
He left out experienced heads Pablo Zabaleta and Matija Nastasic and played Javi Garcia in midfield ahead of Fernandinho. Did he think that Sunderland, being bottom of the table, afforded him that opportunity? Was it a case of complacency from City’s manager?
If yes, it did come back to bite them, especially so in the absence of their most creative player, David Silva, through injury.
Against Aston Villa, where they lost 2-3 at Villa Park, Garcia was played at centre-back ahead of Lescott.
Some of Pellegrini’s decisions have been baffling and a fair share of criticism for their away form could be apportioned to the Chilean.
Ramires
Ramires of Chelsea runs with the ball during the UEFA Champions League Group E match between Chelsea and FC Schalke 04 at Stamford Bridge on November 6, 2013 in London, England
Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder Ramires hit the headlines for his Ashley Young-esque dive on Saturday that earned his side a crucial last gasp penalty which was converted by Hazard to help them draw the game.
It was a blatant dive from the Brazilian and as much as Jose Mourinho ranted on about it being a knock-down penalty, he’s not fooling anyone.
The video replays clearly show that Ramires goes down under the most minimalist of shoulder brushes from Steven Reid.
The referee was at fault for not spotting the act from Ramires, but it was an ugly incident that Chelsea and the Brazilian could have done without.
Juanfran
Juanfran
Atletico Madrid were held by Villareal to a 1-1 draw in an exciting clash at the El Madrigal. And the result meant that the one point lead to league leaders Barcelona is now three points.
Atletico had quite fortuitously taken the lead with an own goal, but Diego Simeone’s side returned the favour when Juanfran put through his own net with about 15 minutes to go to give the game a 1-1 ending.
Real Madrid also closed the gap to their city rivals with a thumping 5-1 win over Sociedad.
Borussia Dortmund
Marco Reus (#11) of Dortmund argues with referee Jochen Drees (R) after the Bundesliga match between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund at Volkswagen Arena on November 9, 2013 in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Having lost their midweek game to Arsenal, Dortmund suffered a second successive loss when they were beaten by Wolfsburg 1-2.
And on a day when Bayern Munich created a new record unbeaten streak with 37 games to further strengthen their position at the top of the table, it was lost ground for Dortmund.
Dortmund also suffered a major setback as Serbian defender Neven Subotic suffered torn ligaments and has been ruled out for an extended period, said to be a minimum of six weeks.
Klopp’s side were beaten by a wonder strike from Croatian striker Ivica Olic that sailed past the reach of Roman Weidenfeller.
You can’t really blame Dortmund for making any callous mistakes that cost them the game, but they were guilty of not finishing off some of the chances in both their games, against Wolfsburg as well as Arsenal.
As the home side, they did have good control of the game against Arsenal in the opening one hour, but failed to make the most of it. At one stage, the match stats read 14 attempts from Dortmund with 3 on target, while Arsenal’s was one attempt with one on target.
The goal made it two attempts with both on target.
These missed chances could have a larger implication in the larger scheme of things. Their loss to Arsenal pushed them back to third place in the group in the Champions League, and though they can still qualify, it would require a perfect performance in their remaining games.
In the Bundesliga, they have lost further ground to Bayern, who are still unbeaten. The gap is now four points with Dortmund set to welcome the champions to the Signal Iduna Park when hostilities resume on November 23 after the international break.