UEFA Must Act on Player Behaviour to Maintain Champions League Integrity
Another midweek of Champions League action has brought some of the best and worst of UEFA's biggest competition to light, as Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich made it through to the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
The Champions League round-of-16 second legs took place amid much fanfare, as is usual, but it was too often the refereeing decisions and actions of the players off the ball that took the headlines.
With key areas of player indiscipline coming under scrutiny, UEFA must ensure they offer protection, guidelines and punishments where necessary to stop the competition descending into near-anarchy at times.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
The Triple-Penalty Response
One of Luis Figo's promises in his FIFA presidency bid is to eradicate the triple punishment of red card and suspension, penalty and (potentially) going a goal down when a player commits a last-man foul or similar.
With their usual timely response, UEFA have now issued a "concern" of their own, per Reuters: "We feel that the current triple punishment rule as it stands puts the referee in a very tough position and leads to decisions which are made that end up having quite a strong influence on the games." That "we feel," obviously, being an unwritten "someone mentioned and we realised."
In any case, the potential for sendings off has at times resulted in attacking players being altogether too comfortable going to ground and looking for the foul. Yes, at times they could be in on goal anyway, but a penalty still gives their side a great chance to score and the opposition would be reduced to 10 men. The incentive is there to help the side immeasurably, and some players opt to take it.
Removing the ensuing suspension, as has been suggested by IFAB, would, of course, not reduce the punishment suffered in-game by the offending team, and in this instance UEFA are right to look at altering the rule itself, though it couldn't be changed midway through the current season.
It took just three minutes for this issue to rear its head in Wednesday's game at the Allianz-Arena, with Mario Gotze being taken down in full flow by Olexandr Kucher.
"Well that didn't take long... Bayern penalty, Shakhtar red card. Tie over. #BayernShakhtar
— Kris Voakes (@krisvoakes) March 11, 2015"
Penalty, red card, goal for Bayern—and with 10 men—Shakhtar Donetsk went on to lose by a 7-0 scoreline.
The damage was done with the vast majority of the game to play; Bayern may well have gone on to win anyway, but Shakhtar certainly couldn't compete playing with fewer men for the whole match.
"Red card helped no question but Bayern were simply on today. Very impressive in every sense. First Roma, now Shakhtar. Props.
— Cristian Nyari (@Cnyari) March 11, 2015"
Player Acting
As is often the case in football, one problem can link into another. The going-to-ground issue thus links into this one: over-the-top reactions from players after challenges, tackles or, indeed, nothing at all—the infamous clasp of the face and dramatic collapse, for example, after two snarling faces brush within an inch or two of each other on the pitch.
Yes, they look ridiculous on television. Yes, social media and traditional media can call the players out on it—but it has no effect, ultimately. The same players are guilty of simulation over and over, while those who don't indulge as frequently will still seem to take their chance when it is presented.
Yellow cards for diving are all well and good, but the entire watching world seems to want retrospective bans for obvious simulation. Still it is not an option, though. The same could be argued for a fourth official looking at a screen during the game to inform the referee what has happened in off-the-ball incidents.
In terms of the Champions League, it is one of the most-watched competitions anywhere in the world, with the biggest names on show and the most enormous of financial prizes involved—not to mention huge international brands as sponsors.
They do not want their name plastered behind recordings of ugly scenes, memorable negative images and such—and likewise, the millions of people watching inevitably want the football, not the antics and the officials, to take centre stage.
Referee Control
Wednesday night's second leg at Stamford Bridge took plenty of headlines after what was, in fairness, a pretty shocking refereeing display.
Standard of officiating aside—a worldwide phenomenon that needs improvement but also aid—it was the haranguing of the man in the middle by the Chelsea players that attracted most criticism. They surrounded the whistler after a 50-50 challenge between Oscar and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, demanding action that the referee was only too willing to oblige with: a red card for the Swedish forward.
"Zlatan Ibrahimovic speaks out on the Chelsea players’ reaction to his challenge on Oscar ▶️ http://t.co/ouutBoMEkG pic.twitter.com/Eb1J3OxsUf
— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) March 12, 2015"
Check the incident, and it is clearly Oscar who flies in more dangerously and Zlatan who pulls out as much as he can—the card should have gone the other way.
"— Karl Matchett (@karlmatchett) March 12, 2015"
From then on, though, it was a constant tirade of blue abuse toward the referee, demanding action at every turn and foul—though it all might have been avoided over the 120 minutes had he simply spotted an obvious foul and penalty on Diego Costa by Edinson Cavani. He didn't.
In the Sky Sports studios, Jamie Carragher and, particularly, Graeme Souness watched on and spoke with growing disgust over the actions of the players on the field. Per BBC Sport, the former said:
"The worst bit of dirty tricks was from Chelsea, surrounding the referee, the reaction was disgraceful. Jose Mourinho could end up being the most successful manager ever with the trophies he goes on to win in his career but I don't think him and his teams will be ever be loved because of actions like that.
"
Souness was rather more to the point:
"PSG had to put up with stuff which I find really, really unappealing. To a man, they (Chelsea players) surrounded the referee, (Diego) Costa ran 50 yards to get involved. That is something we can do without. That is not the British way of doing things, it's creeping into our game, which is, I find, totally unacceptable.
"
British or not, the Champions League is supposed to be the promised land, the golden goose, the most vaunted and coveted of all club football prizes.
If it is seen as acceptable to attain that prize by any means necessary, including intimidation, cheating and simulation, perhaps it's time to reconsider whether those who continually offend should be quite so cordially invited to compete in this manner, unless UEFA are willing to let their most valuable brand deteriorate into a farcical showdown over who can con the referee the most and best.
