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Longford U21s have held Dublin scoreless for the first 15 minutes 0-1 to 0-0 at the moment.

Thought this was interesting enough. 50/50 decisions both of them IMO, another day a ref could have reversed the decisions. Good to have a read of the actual laws.



FIFA Law 12: "Reckless" means that the player has acted with complete disregard of the danger to, or consequences for, his opponent. A player who plays in a reckless manner shall be cautioned.

This seems to sum up fairly well the two incidents above. Both Diego López and Nani were trying to win the ball but both of them went in without considering the consequences for their opponent. Nani caught Alvaro Arbeloa with his studs, Diego López punched Nemanja Vidic in the head with both fists.
Nani got sent off and López wasn't even booked

FIFA Law 12: "Using excessive force" means that the player has far exceeded the necessary use of force and is in danger of injuring his opponent. A player who uses excessive force shall be sent off.
Whilst both Nani and López were in danger of injuring an opponent, neither of them used excessive force.

FIFA Law 12: If a player plays in a dangerous manner in a "normal" challenge, the referee should not take any disciplinary action. If the action is made with obvious risk of injury the referee should caution the player. If a player denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity in a dangerous manner the referee should send off the player.

Again, the Laws of the game would suggest that at worst, Nani should have been booked.

According to those rules both challenges were reckless. Mourinho had his doubts if Real Madrid could win the match at 11 v 11 to be honest it's hard to know the game was evenly poised that could have went either way.

Yeah, if Mayo lose this they will have to depend on others losing matches if they are to stay up. i mean their points tally at the end won't be enough to secure them a place in the top division next year. They've a couple of hard matches to come yet and a win on Saturday might ease the pressure a biteen on Horan and the players.

Same as last year when some Mayo supporters thought they would get relegated only to reach the final? I now see mayo.mick got in before me.

Ronaldo,Rooney to swap clubs in the summer?

[Retired referee Dermot Gallagher on BBC Radio 5 live:]

Retired referee Dermot Gallagher on BBC Radio 5 live: "[The decision was] harsh to say the least but in fairness the Real player did Nani no favours whatsoever. At worst Nani catches the underside of his arm, certainly not the ribs as the guy has gone down and shown.

"I can't reiterate enough that he [Nani] is watching the ball over his shoulder, there was no malice in him. At worst it was a yellow for dangerous play, but if I was refereeing that game I cannot see what stretch of the imagination where I would have sent him off for that."

It looked like Manchester United would go on to win that game until the red card. Real Madrid will have improve if they want to win champions league the German sides look better than them.

Ronaldo who else 2-1 tie as good as done. In fairness the red card changed the game completely.

1-1 Real Madrids tie to lose now.

Turning point Nani red card for a high boot. Poor call from the ref.

Mourinho won't be happy with that defending.

Welbeck,Vidic should have scored, those missed chances could come back to haunt.

Utd are in pole position with the away goal, but can see them slipping up.

The away goal will soon be canceled out once Real Madrid score and i can them scoring at least two goals tonight.

OptaJoe ‏@OptaJoe
999 - Ryan Giggs has currently played 931 senior games for Manchester United, 64 for Wales and four for Great Britain.

Few more games to reach 1000 with Manchester United.

[Mayo look the better team on paper and if we lose no harm imvho.]

Mayo look the better team on paper and if we lose no harm imvho. Nice to see younger players getting a chance and hopefully some of them nail a championship place by the end of the league.

Nelson is a very tidy player and thought he would be a regular in the team by now. Likewise Devereux who I see is on the subs bench.

Agree to a degree with Declan about Declan O'Mahony. Was a great underage player and is still a great club player. Needs to take these chances and hopefully he does as we need another midfielder to take some of the pressure off MDMA.

I thought Dublin would select stronger team and with so many players to return a defeat here will be no harm. How long is Alan Brogan out for?

[At the end of the day there is only one winner in all this sorry saga and that's Benitez.]

Benitez was 100% correct to have a go at Chelsea's Neanderthal fans.
It has to have an effect on the team the way they carry on.
To not even give the man a chance speaks volumes about the mentality of these yobs. It's there sugar daddy owner they should be pissed with for appointing Rafa in the first place, he was never going to be the right man for the job.
When Benitez goes that will be 4 out of the last 7 Champions Leage winning managers they will have let go. Chelsea are a joke club IMO.
At the end of the day there is only one winner in all this sorry saga and that's Benitez.
He will have earned a couple of million from this and will move onto another club none the worse for wear.
Chelsea's revolving door of managers will continue as long as the Russian is in charge.

Benitez agent is also a winner in this saga.