Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand (second right) applauds the match officials after the Champions League defeat against Real Madrid at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester on Tuesday.
Madrid: Madrid’s sporting press yesterday hailed a dream win for Real but rival papers said their victory at Manchester United was a gift from the referee.
“Madrid close a dream week at Old Trafford en route to their 10th,” Marca said, after Tuesday night’s Champions League win topped two recent victories over their rivals Barcelona in the Spanish league and cup.
“Great week,” yelled the other main pro-Real daily, AS, on its front page.
Both papers acknowledged United’s furious response to the sending off of its Portuguese winger Nani for a boot in the chest of Alvaro Arbeloa.
Marca described the red card as “harsh”.
Pundit Juanma Trueba in AS nevertheless judged Real “better... although the referee helped and lightened the burden” of Madrid.
Pro-Barcelona dailies Sport and Mundo Deportivo played down Real’s joy.
“Refereeing victory,” sneered Mundo Deportivo in its headline.
“Madrid were bad and ended up playing for time despite being one goal up.”
“Gift to Madrid,” said Sport in a small item on its front page, above a photograph of Nani getting his red card. Marca lauded Cristiano Ronaldo’s respectful lack of celebration. “Heart of a champion,” it headlined above a picture of the striker it dubbed “Sir Cristiano”.
“There had been room for the possibility of Madrid writing off the season,” Marca said. “But nothing could be further from the truth.”
Elsewhere, British newspapers were unanimous that Manchester United had been cheated out of victory.
The Daily Telegraph headlined its coverage “Cheated”, focusing on Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir’s decision to send off Nani when most observers had expected a yellow card at worst. “This was a good game ruined by a bad referee,” wrote the Telegraph, saying it was a “terrible decision”.
The Times said the sending-off had seemed “extremely harsh” because it came after United had taken a 1-0 lead.
“For a time, this had seemed to be shaping into one of Ferguson’s great triumphs, but it ended up as an addition to a litany of Champions League hard-luck stories -- Borussia Dortmund in 1997, Bayer Leverkusen in 2002, Porto in 2004 and Bayern Munich in 2010 -- and this one seemed to bring a genuine cause for grievance.” AGENCIES
