Man in the Middle

Manuel Pellegrini’s incandescent attack on the integrity of Jonas Eriksson ensured that the visit of Catalan giants Barcelona will be remembered for more than just a demolition of Manchester City’s dreams of an unprecedented quadruple.

Pundits and fans have been waxing lyrical over the swashbuckling nature of the sky blues this season leaving many to afford optimistic glances towards a mouth-watering tie with Messi, Xavi and Neymar. It was only 15 years earlier that Shaun Goater spearheaded City to a 2-0 over Macclesfield Town. Last night it was £20 million Spanish international Álvaro Negredo who dared to do battle with the Spanish champions.

However the game was never in danger of any genuine physical battle. A bemused Negredo was penalised countless times for displays of strength whilst the wide-eyed figure of Yaya Touré with arms abreast questioning the referee became an image so symbolic of City’s evening.

Barcelona deserved the win on the night. Martín Demichelis’ red card was definite and the decision to award a penalty, whilst debateable, was understandable. The way to deal with such a debate was for the defence to deal with the first ball, not desperately point fingers at a foul on Jesus Navas in the build-up.

BBC’s Phil McNulty damned Pellegrini’s outburst and attack on Swedish sporting culture as “bizarre and ill-advised”, lambasting the Chilean’s “verbal destruction of Eriksson’s performance”.

The most telling decisions however, were not the red card, the penalty or even Barcelona’s wrongly disallowed goal for offside. If Pellegrini is correct in saying that the referee decided the game, then he did so in the complete censorship of physical battle.

Following the match skipper Vincent Kompany claimed “there was a lot of soft fouls. In the Premier League they would not have been given”. The Belgian is right.

English football culture is such that speed, strength and athleticism are valued alongside technical ability and tactical nous. Eriksson denied City any opportunity to “ruffle the feathers” of their Spanish counterparts, penalising even the softest of challenges.

Referees need to have a greater understanding of the different styles of play across Europe instead of pandering to the possession game currently in vogue across southern Europe.

It would be interesting to see how Eriksson would have controlled the game should he have spent a season refereeing in England. If football is becoming an increasingly global competition with foreign players and managers, why should referees be exempt from foreign footballing culture?

The expanding European network has to be opened up to men who officiate the game.  A certain drafting system of elite referees performing weekly across Europe would guarantee a greater knowledge and respect for how different cultures approach the game.

There is no doubt that City were deservedly beaten last night and that Pellegrini now faces the iron fist of UEFA’s disciplinary board. The referee was competent in the major decisions, but in his totalitarian protection of the Spanish outfit, City were denied the opportunity to express why they have been such a force in the Premier League this season.