AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said that he is extremely disgusted with the refereeing performance in the recent quarter-final match between AC Milan and Barcelona in the Champions League. AC Milan were coming into the second leg match against Barcelona after having drawn the first leg 0-0.
The Italian club, however, were unable to convert the advantage from the first leg, as they were defeated 3-1 by Barcelona. AC Milan came extremely close to booking their semi-final date against Chelsea until the referee awarded a second penalty for Barcelona, which was converted by Lionel Messi.
After the match, Zlatan Ibrahimovic questioned the decision by the referee to award two penalties for Barcelona – the second penalty that was clearly dubious. Ibrahimovic also said that he now understands the frustration of former Inter Milan manager José Mourinho, who has accused Barcelona of getting preferential treatment from the referees at the Camp Nou. Referee Bjorn Kupers decision to award the second penalty for Barcelona and also book Alessandro Nesta for a foul that never appeared to happen was the biggest disappointment for Ibrahimovic. Barcelona manager Guardiola, though, pointed out to the five consecutive semifinals that Barcelona have achieved in recent seasons to the questions posed by Ibrahimovic over the supposed favouritism from the referees.
“I’m just disgusted. They are the best team in the world but at 1-1 and, playing with intelligence, you can do something. [But] I understand better why Mourinho gets upset every time he plays here – in my opinion it was not fair. The ball wasn’t in play and he called it. It was weird, odd, it ruined the game. I still don’t understand what he whistled,” the Sweden striker told betfair football betting online after the match.
Prior to the penalty being awarded, Barcelona were in a position of being eliminated from the Champions League. Zlatan’s attention will now shift to this summer’s European Championships, where the latest Euro 2012 Betting shows that Sweden will be second favourites to make it out of their group, but expected by the bookies to reach the Quarter Finals.