AC Milan-Barcelona Draw Proves Goal-Line Officials Are Useless

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho could have been forgiven for letting a wry smile creep across his face while watching Barcelona take on AC Milan in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal at the San Siro.

Mourinho has been vocal in the past about his feeling that his team's great rivals often get favourable treatment from officials. 

When asked about the match, after his own team had just won 3-0 at APOEL Nicosia in their last-eight tie on Tuesday, Mourinho said to reporters (via goal.com), "I hope it is a beautiful game and at the end of it we are not talking about the referee."

As is so often the case, Mourinho was made to look clever by one of his broad remarks, as there was indeed talk about the officials after the match in Milan. However, this time, it was Barcelona who were on the receiving end of some poor decisions.

Milan deserve great credit for the win, too, for their courageous defensive display, which helped keep Barcelona at bay.

Even with star defender Thiago Silva missing the visit of the European champions due to injury, the Rossoneri claimed a goalless draw, which gives them a fighting chance in the return leg at the Nou Camp.

Perhaps most impressive of all was the fact that Massimo Allegri's side managed to limit Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta and Co. to just 62 percent possession. 

To put that into context: Barca had averaged just a shade under 75 percent possession across their previous eight games in this season's competition. In last season's 3-1 victory over Manchester United in the final at Wembley, they had 69 percent of the ball overall.

It might have been even better for Milan had Robinho not blazed his early chance over the bar from 10 yards, or Zlatan Ibrahimovic connected better with his one clear chance. 

For all of their own sterling efforts in stopping Barcelona from scoring for the first time in their last 30 European games, Milan were given a helping hand by the goal-line officials.

In the first half, Barca forward Alexis Sanchez was clearly felled in the penalty area by Milan goalkeeper Christian Abbiati, right in front of the extra official, but neither he nor the referee awarded what should have been a penalty kick.

Then, with a quarter of an hour remaining, Djamel Mesbah replaced Alessandro Nesta for Milan, and three minutes later, he was fortunate to escape censure for clearly yanking back Carles Puyol's shirt as the Barca captain stooped to glance Xavi's corner wide.

Again, the incident was in full view of the man behind the goal, who declined to call for action.

Barca coach Pep Guardiola was understandably frustrated. According to Eurosport.com, he said, "What's the use of two extra goal-line referees if they don't see clear penalties? If they don't give it, they didn't see it."

Puyol concurred, adding on his own incident, "I was clearly held back, you could it see on the screen too, but the referee said no. His task isn't easy, no excuses."

An extra official has been placed next to each goal in all official UEFA matches since the start of last season, with the express purpose of telling the referee if the ball has crossed the line or of infringements in the penalty area.

As UEFA put it (via Eurosport.com), they are there to "ensure that the Laws of the Game are upheld, informing the referee of incidents of any kind that (he or she) may otherwise have missed, particularly in key areas of the field like the penalty area and its surroundings."

The goal-line officials are not drawn from the same elite-level FIFA pool as match referees and fourth officials. They do not have a flag or a whistle. In fact, they are instructed not to give any signal of any kind. Their one job, upon spotting an infringement, is to inform the referee via the microphones and earpieces they all wear.

There seem to be three possible reasons for why the men stationed behind the goal-lines did not give the aforementioned decisions at the San Siro. Either they did not see the crystal-clear incidents right in front of their eyes, they saw them but declined to inform referee Jonas Eriksson or they did so, and Eriksson decided not to act.

In the case of any of those eventualities, the same question is still raised: What is the point of having them there if they cannot do the job they are employed to do?

It is true that there have been a few occasions where the fifth or sixth official has proved of use, but those instances are few and far between. 

This woolly compromise on the widespread demands for goal-line technology is ineffective in the other, no-less-essential part of its remit, and as such, is not fit for purpose.