24th August 2012
The BBC this evening was responding to many viewers complaining about the after match report on their UEFA Super Cup MOTD special.
The match was between Barcelona who in May beat Real Madrid to win their 5th Champions League & Manchester United who in May also beat Valencia to win the Europa League for the 1st time.
The game was played at the Stade Louis II stadium in Monaco. It finished 5-0 with Barcelona taking their 5th Super Cup, drawing level with AC Milan in Super Cup wins.
The match though will be remembered for Björn Kuipers decision to send Wayne Rooney off in the 39th minute for what seemed an innocuous clash with Daniel Alves in the centre circle. The match was then poised at 1-0 to Barcelona with Xavi scoring in the 8th minute & Manchester United having dealt with early pressure from Barcelona. Kuipers even though 35 yards from the incident indicated that Rooney had used an elbow on Alves, when replays showed it was just a coming together.
After this Manchester United down to 10 men capitulated, conceding another 4 goals. Pedro scored an 18 yard screamer in the 75th minute and Lionel Messi grabbing a Hatrick, one a penalty in 78th minute where again Kuipers provided another strange decision. Iniesta with the ball moving towards the penalty area, was deemed to be fouled by Ferdinand, even though Ferdinand never ventured into the Penalty area.
The reasons for the complaints, repeated many times by those who registered their dissatisfaction, was the flippant nature in which the MOTD panel of Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer & Mark Lawrenson treated Manchester United chances of winning their 2nd Super Cup. At one point Mark Lawrenson almost giggling when reviewing the Rooney Sending off, with Lawrenson saying “the Sending off had no bearing on the game as Barcelona were always going to win”. Shearer repeating the same theme as Lawrenson highlighting that “Manchester United had no chance in beating Barcelona due to the previous results between the two teams”.
Mark Thompson the Director General of the BBC, said a meeting had been organised between himself & the MOTD team. This was to see how the MOTD team could in future to ensure their post match reviews don’t come across as blatant bias towards certain favoured teams.
Andy
P.S. this is a vision into the future of what could happen if the current MOTD team continue to report like they do for the BBC in the Premier League. Imagine if the boot was on the other foot, how many complaints there would be if the above story was true. Well now you know how it feels to be a Wigan Athletic fan on a Saturday evening Gary, Alan & Mark……….
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