& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Robbery?

Al-amin
There were only three minutes left on the clock for the best football team on the planet to salvage their pride and they did it in style with goals from Cess Fabregas and David Villa. Barcelona completed a great Houdini act against Sevilla on Saturday night at the Sdnchez Pizjudn with a 3-2 win. Barca maintain their 100 percent record intact in the La Liga this season thanks to two fantastic goals from Febregas and an added-time winner from Villa in a match where the Catalan giants were 2-0 down till the 55 th minute.
The above descriptions will certainly invoke a lot of pride among the loyal Barcelona fans around the world for not because it is something unique but because of their ability to overcome such adverse situation. But was that a fair reflection of actually what had happened in a pulsating match. Most will agree but those who watched the game would not buy the story.
What about a narrative like this?
There were only three minutes left on the clock and a combative Sevilla were heading to floor the best football team on the planet two weeks after their fabulous victory against Real Madrid but only to be deprived by a couple of cruel refereeing decisions.
The saying is that only the losing team complains about refereeing decisions and it was partly correct after Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson blamed the
SEE PAGE 17 COL 1 FROM PAGE 18
referee for not allowing adequate injury time after his team's defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on the same night.
Sevilla coach Jose Miguel Gonzalez 'Michel did not complain.
But his statement after the game was more heartening.
"Sometimes things are just crystal clear but still rules are about interpretation and I never talk about referees."
He was actually pointing to two 'crystal clear' incidents of the game. First, the red card of Sevilla midfielder Gary Medel in the 71st minute following what the ref 'interpreted' as a head butting of Febregas. But for those who saw the match, if that was headbutt then French football legend Zinedine Zidne would certainly have landed in jail for an apparent act of 'trying to kill' Marco Materazzi. And for
Cesc it could easily win him an Oscar after he bumped chests with Medel and then staggered away holding his face as if he'd been punched in the nose.
The second incident was crueller. With three minutes remaining and Barcelona pushing hard, the ball struck a good part of Cristian Tello's arm as he was trying to control the ball just outside the Sevilla box. The Sevilla players appealed but the ref who was standing in close vicinity ignored it and the result was catastrophic for a team that fought in a battle of unequals like men possessed.
After two touches the ball landed on the feet of Cesc who got the equalizer. True, Villa's goal was a class finish and Barcelona will now go on to win many more matches in the days to come. But this particular one could have been a rare success story of a 'Third World' team had they not been robbed by two erroneous refereeing decisions.