c4countdown

BT aren't exactly shouting it from the rooftops that the Europa League Final will be broadcast live and free for everybody, on their Showcase channel this evening, so I thought I would give them a hand!

Silly them, I might not have watched it on a dodgy feed otherwise.

I don't exactly follow football, but I find it strange that Sevilla have won this three times in a row and five times in about ten years, because as far as I understand they've effectively come exactly 17th overall three years in a row. Seems a bit of a weird coincidence.

Sevilla would win the Champions League if last nights Ref and his assistants took charge of all their games!

Steven M. McCann wrote:Sevilla would win the Champions League if last nights Ref and his assistants took charge of all their games!

Anything in particular you're thinking of here? All seemed fine to me, Liverpool were just fucking shit in the second half.

Gavin Chipper wrote:I don't exactly follow football, but I find it strange that Sevilla have won this three times in a row and five times in about ten years, because as far as I understand they've effectively come exactly 17th overall three years in a row. Seems a bit of a weird coincidence.

Does anyone else have any extra insight on this? I think it must be largely coincidence, but I suppose if the Spanish league is overly good compared to the number of Champions' League places they get then the teams that just miss out on the Champions' League would automatically be among the best in Europe's B tournament. But apparently they were in the group stage of the Champions' League this season but didn't make it through, and those that don't make the final 16 can go into the UEFA Cup (hence 17th overall). So I think it's probably a combination of freak event + Spanish League overly strong relative to the number of Champions' League places they get.

Sevilla qualified for the 2013/14 Europa League when coming only 9th in La Liga in 2012-13 because Malaga and Vallecano, who came 6th and 8th, were excluded for being broke. They then came 5th in La Liga the next two years, which was enough.

Jon, the Ref denied Liverpool two blatant penalties plus another that was a bit more difficult to spot.
Blatant penalty No.1 was when the Sevilla defender managed to both foul Firmino and handle it in the same movement and got away with both offences!.
Blatant penalty No.2 was when the Sevilla defender reached down to about a foot of the ground to stop Sturridge's intended through pass with his hand.
Add the Referee's assistant distracting the Liverpool defence by erroneously putting up his flag for Sevilla's 3rd goal and Liverpool are fully entitled to feel hard done by.
Liverpool were awful in the second half, but it doesn't negate the fact that if the Ref had done his job Liverpool could easily have went in at halftime 3-0 in front.

Steven M. McCann wrote:Jon, the Ref denied Liverpool two blatant penalties plus another that was a bit more difficult to spot.
Blatant penalty No.1 was when the Sevilla defender managed to both foul Firmino and handle it in the same movement and got away with both offences!.
Blatant penalty No.2 was when the Sevilla defender reached down to about a foot of the ground to stop Sturridge's intended through pass with his hand.
Add the Referee's assistant distracting the Liverpool defence by erroneously putting up his flag for Sevilla's 3rd goal and Liverpool are fully entitled to feel hard done by.
Liverpool were awful in the second half, but it doesn't negate the fact that if the Ref had done his job Liverpool could easily have went in at halftime 3-0 in front.

Firmino kicked the ball against his arm and then dived
Distracted by a flag You understand what happened there, right?
Liverpool probably shouldn't have still been in the competition after Sakho's heroics against Man U. Toure sprinting back past everybody to make a last-ditch tackle was highly dubious as well, odd how he's clearly the fastest he's ever been at the ripe old age of 35

Sakho being daft enough to take a proscribed fat burner hardly makes him Lance Armstrong.
Toure being able to catch the slow Kevin Gameiro doesn't prove anything either.
ITV in their highlights show after the match, analysed the penalty incidents in great detail and all of their pundits were adamant, Liverpool had been denied two clear penalties.
You don't think players seeing a linesman's flag going up would be distracted by it?
Although to be fair, the officials weren't as bad as the one's who took charge of England v Turkey, an offside goal, a penalty for a dive and the winning goal coming from a corner that should have been a goal kick!.

Toure sprinted past Lovren and Clyne to catch him though
Were all their pundits ex-Liverpool like BT's were? Owen after the match saying how basically after Barca and Madrid, Liverpool were the team everyone wanted to play for
Howard Webb on BT said none were pens. I saw another ex-ref (Poll?) in a newspaper saying the same.
I don't think seeing the flag made any difference, no. The player was clean through by then and took one touch and dispatched it past Mignolet who still made an effort to save it. (And even if it did, that's their own unprofessionalism in not playing to the whistle.)

Howard Webb hates Liverpool more than he loves Man Utd, so I wouldn't pay too much heed to what he says.
Two of the ITV pundits (with no Liverpool connection) that were convinced Liverpool had been robbed, were Lee Dixon & Glenn Hoddle.
Michael Owen is trying to curry favour with Liverpool fans after doing the unforgivable (playing for Man Utd).
I'm sure Sir Alex Ferguson didn't think they were penalties either!