Real Vallecano vs Barcelona

[Mooseybaby]

Usual dull and uneventful affair where Barca are concerned these days...
Messi hat-trick, 5 Barca goals, Suarez missing a penalty and 2 Rayo players red carded.

Llorente shown a straight red after a challenge on Rakatic. Replays showed Llorente got the ball first, however with the speed and force of his sliding challenge followed through on the Barca man with studs up catching Rakatic above the knee. As seems to be the case so often, "use of excessive force" and "endangering the safety of an opponent" appears to be lost on commentators with the red card described as "harsh"

The 2nd red, Neymar's free kick rebounds off the bar to Busquets on the 6 yard line, but before he can get his shot away is taken out from behind by a Rayo defender who sees red for DOGSO. Mendietta in the Sky studio also considered this one harsh as well! Replays showed Busquets should have been flagged for offside, but not spotted by the assistant. Unclear if the Rayo players were complaining about the non-offside or the red for DOGSO decision.

 

[Kes]

Didn't watch it. Wish I had now.

I had the pleasure of refereeing Rayo's U12 academy side during an "international club tournament" in Bath last summer.
Other teams taking part were, Chelsea, Everton, Swansea and Swindon.
The Spanish kids won the competition, unbeaten over the 2 days and were an absolute joy to watch and referee. Technically much more gifted than their UK counterparts, (I hate to say it cos it's such a cliché but it's true ) they all played with a smile on their faces, and even their supporters/parents were such happy and cheerful people.
One youngster in particular, known only to me as "Ikay" was fantastic. Amazing vision and spatial awareness for an 11 year old.
I will be watching out for him in years to come. Hopefully not in a Spanish jersey against England!!

 

[deusex]

 

[Martiju]

Unbelievably harsh. He's only flown in with a foot raised unnaturally high with excessive force...in my day that was a good old-fashioned midfield challenge...damn fussy referees these days...

 

[SM]

Oops. Not a good challenge.

 

[ARF]

Obviously not much argument about either of those! Although I will admit that the first time I watched the DOGSO one I was unconvinced as I thought the keeper may have been getting to the ball first... no such doubts having watched it again.

 

[HoofItYouDonkey]

How did anyone argue against that???