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spot on chatterji !!
i was very disappointed at the disrespect henry showed to ronaldinho and eto'o in his comments, i can't see how he could go to barca now after what he said and look those two in the eye.
eboue was very fortunate the referee missed his dive when giving arsenal the free kick that led to their goal, having just been booked he would surely have been sent off, and deservedly so!
finally, andy gray was way off the mark with his comments on the lehmann foul, during his commentry on sky, showing a total lack of reason. the referee acted as he saw it at the time, there are arguments for three senarios on this, the one the ref took, which was correct to the letter of the law, or waiting, allowing the goal and booking lehmann, or even allowing the goal and still sending lehmann off. gray's jingoistic rantings were very unprofessional and plainly wrong because the sending off did not ruin the final as a spectacle, it was still a very good game.
here's a poser, do referees ignore the laws of the game and not send a player off for fear of "ruining the occassion" or do they carry out their duties as they see it within the laws of the game?
even henry accepted the sending off during his comments after the game.

Have to agree that Arsenal were sore losers on the night. I would have sent off Lehman AND let the Barca goal stand. Arsenal players including Henry were guilty of diving. And Barca's first goal was not blatantly offside. On replays defender and attacker still looked level.
Face it Gunners - Barca were the better side and deserved to win. Losers make excuses and complain about the ref.
And the usual biased crap from the pundits.

During the rugby internationals, the BBC has a digital option which allows you to watch with no commentary other than hearing what the ref is saying. I have to say I rarely use it as I enjoy listening to Eddie Butler, Nick Mullins et al (except for Jonathon Davies' whinney voice)

If only Sky would do the same for the football so I didn't have to listen to their crap presenters, commentators and "experts"

Andy Gray - CRAP
Richard Keys - CRAP
Martin Tyler - Bearable
Ruud Gullit - Interesting
Jamie Redknapp - Must have splinters up his arse given he sits on the fence so much


ITV weren't much better last night, either.

Terry Venables??? F**k's sake... what was he doing there? You'll never get a straight opinion from him. If England are playing he's biased toward England, and if an English club is playing a foreign club, he's biased toward the English club.

What I want from a summariser is expert knowledge and opinion... show me bits I missed because I don't have the great tactical knowledge of a former player and manager... but don't insult me telling me the opposite of what I saw just because of your biased opinion!

ITV's coverage was a complete joke it has to be said, Gabby Logan looked like she had stumbled into the studio from an "Elvira" Audition and she did not have a clue how to best go about summing up what had just been witnessed, plus they seemed more interested in "selling" their upcoming Celebrity Soccer Match than actually digesting the biggest game known to man ... kind of sums up the direction ITV have been taking recently.

Arsenal did come across as really bad losers, Lehman did what any keeper worth his salt would do and prevented a goal by committing a professional foul and in my book they were lucky not to have the player sent off AND the goal to stand, so the ref. didn't just get Arsenal's decisions wrong. Henry was a joke and yet again choked when it came to the defining moments, yet he seemed to want to blame everybody and his granny to try and deflect from that fact ... what price he is off to Barcelona in the next couple of weeks??

Very much agree Bob, a few months ago in America there was a basketball match or ice hockey match, i can't remember which, and i think the commentators were on strike or something, anyway they did the match without commentary and the viewing figures were higher than normal! I'm pretty sure if they did it here the same thing would happen.

Sky's Sports is starting to get very stale and boring and don't get me started on the Sky Sports "News" channel!
BBC's sports try to look hip and trendy but just come off looking like your parents trying to look hip and trendy!
And ITV just look crap. lol !wink!

Oh and Arsenal got what they deserved. !laugh!
Roll on world cup!!

Frankly Pretty_Joe, it's very old news. Arsenal -during Wengers time- have always been whingers! Over the last 10 years they've dived, fouled and had offside goals given to them all the time! I can however forgive them a liitle due to the gorgeous way they play.......

To be honest they got the rough end of the ref's stick last night. He got some big decisions wrong. Barca's first goal shouldn't have stood as there was a blatent foal that should have gone to Arsenal about 4-5 passes before Barca scored. He booked Henry for a great tackle where he won the ball cleanly. Barca players went through the back of Arsenal players without getting yellow cards and Deco dived right in front of the ref without getting a yellow. (the ref saw it as a dive and told Deco to get up!). The only decision Arsenal got was Eboue's dive that lead to Arsenals goal. (though a very big decision their way as they scored!).

It's well known that British teams get decisions go against them all the time in International and European competitions. Ever since British clubs have been let back into Europe, Fifa and Ueafa have meddled with the rules of the game to consistantly stop the flow of a game. Tackles from behind, challanging keepers for crosses, high feet, strong shoulder barges were all British traits in the game, now they're all fouls after over 100 years with them being acceptable. Shirt pulling, diving and getting players sent off are all continental & south american traits which Fifa always say they're trying to stamp out without actually doing so. (now creeping into our game!).

The rules are continually slowing the game down which suits continental and south american teams perfectly as they've always played that way due to their hot climates. I really get the feeling that the Fifa's & Uefa's of this world want British teams out of their competitions as soon as possible.

As for Arsenal, well they got the same things going against them as they got going for them in the Premiership over the last 10 years! Did you notice how much the media built up the Champions League Final this year, being a London team in it & all? They played well getting there, I'll give them that.

After the digs Henry had at Barcelona after I can't see him going there....I reckon he's Madrid bound now.

"Funny how football creates such inflamed passions in the UK....not surprising that our so called fans are so disliked around the world. Its only a game guys...."

Other footballing nations are just as passionate about football, I would even say the Italians are more so. I hate how people are trying to sanitise the game and take the passion away, booking players for celebrating a goal, ridiculous, people are passionate about football and that's what makes it so good.

On the Arsenal thing, they did whinge a bit. Wenger has always been a bad loser, let's not forget him trying to beat up Sir Alex in the tunnel. To be honest, the ref had a stinker, he made bad calls all over the pitch, no just for Arsenal.

But Lehman was to blame for going to 10 men, not the ref. If Arsenal wanted to have taken the goal standing, and kept 11 men on the pitch, then Lehman, don't grab hold of Etoo's ankle. Ref is there to enforce the laws of the game, not make sure everyone at home gets to see a classic game.

Henry says he is staying and thats great for us bad for the rest ! that kraut signing, Bollock, or whatever his name is, at Chelsea wont live up to the hype, Nistelrooy is as good as gone, Beckham will quit and return to his one true spiritual home...Goooooner !
fuck it, I couldnt care less what you all think of them, I was born across the road from Highbury and grew up there and went to school there .....Charlie George was a schoolboy hero to me, I even have the shirt he wore from the FA cup final against Liverpool in 1971, what with the move to the new stadium, Henry's new contract, next season is going to be a thriller........! !