by Martin Rødvand on May 21, 2008
It’s less than 24 hours to the kick-off at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, and the media coverage has been intense these last days. I have followed the news after UEFA announced Lubos Michel as the referee for the game, thinking I would write a small post on the reactions to the appointment. What seems to be the main focus of the newspapers are very clear, they remember the 2005 Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Chelsea where the assistant referee Roman Slysko awarded Liverpool the goal who sent them to the final. It hasn’t been confirmed whether the ball did cross the line or did not cross the line, but the goal stands as controversial in the mind of Chelsea fans. Most of the newspapers seem to focus on this one incident that involved Chelsea when commenting on the appointment.
From guardian.co.uk:
“The ghosts of Champions League showdowns past were stirred for Chelsea yesterday when the referee and assistant who allowed Luis García’s contentious winner for Liverpool in their 2005 semi-final were announced as being two of the men in charge of the final with Manchester United tomorrow evening.”
From dailystar.co.uk:
“CHELSEA will be haunted by a blast from the past in Moscow tomorrow – “ghost goal” referee Lubos Michel.”
From setantasports.com:
“Slovakian referee Michel was the man in the middle when Luis Garcia scored his infamous ‘ghost goal’ when Liverpool dumped Chelsea out at the semi-final stage back in 2005.”
Also from setantasports.com, Arsene Wenger is apparently bitter after losing in the quarter-final:
“Every match is being decided on a referee’s decision and I wouldn’t put my house on a ref’s decision,” said Wenger.
The writer from International Herald Tribune seems more positive to Michel:
“The referee, Lubos Michel, is a 40-year-old former school teacher from Slovakia. He speaks fluent English and Russian; and, having traveled with him on an International Red Cross field visit to Sierra Leone, I can vouch for his impartiality and his singularity of purpose.”
by Martin Rødvand on May 19, 2008
UEFA today confirmed that Lubos Michel will take charge of Wednesdays Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea FC.
In their press release they write:
“The UEFA Referees Committee today announced the referee for the final of the 2007/08
UEFA Champions League between Manchester United FC and Chelsea FC to be played
at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Wednesday 21 May, kicking-off at 20.45 CET
(22.45 local time in Moscow).
The match will be handled by Slovakian referee Lubos Michel, who celebrated his 40th
birthday last Friday. Born in Stropkov, he made his refereeing debut at a 6th-category
match between FK Duplin and FK Strocin in 1987. By 1993, he had graduated to the top
division and, in the November of that year, made his international debut at a match
involving England – a European Under-21 Championship fixture against San Marino.
Lubos Michel was at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and handled the Brazil v Argentina
final of the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup (Carlos Tévez was 72nd-minute sub). He had
become the first referee from the independent Slovakia to officiate at a FIFA World Cup
match (the Paraguay v South Africa fixture in 2002). At the 2006 finals he refereed the
Portugal v Mexico game (Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho played; Cristiano Ronaldo
was on the bench), plus the Brazil v Ghana match (Michael Essien unused) and the
Argentina v Germany game that featured Michael Ballack and Carlos Tévez.
Lubos Michel was referee of the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville between FC Porto and
Celtic FC. At EURO 2004, he handled the Greece v Spain, Switzerland v France and
Sweden v Netherlands games. He made his UEFA Champions League debut in 1998
and is the best-placed among the currently-active referees to become the second, after
Denmark’s Kim Milton Nielsen, to reach the milestone of 50 appearances in the
competition. He was the referee of the Liverpool FC v Chelsea FC semi-final in 2005
In Moscow, Lubos Michel will be backed by the assistant referees who have
accompanied him at his major tournaments: Roman Slysko (34) and Martin Balko (36).
The 4th Official will be Vladimir Hrinak (44), also of Slovakia.”
Link to press release.
Article following the announcement on UEFA.com.
My own page about Michel.
