There must be a brave man under a heavy reward.
In the early morning of May 1st, Beijing time, in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals, Nottingham Forest still had no way to guarantee qualification for the Premier League next season. However, it defeated Aston Villa 1-0 at home, taking a solid step towards the final. This event is a derby in the central and western regions of England. Forest and Villa have both been Champions League champions.
If it were not for the black whistle situation, Forest would still have the possibility of adding another UEFA Cup before 42 years. It was a pity that they met Belgium's Anderlecht in the semi-finals that year. The team's chairman Van den Stock gave 1.2 million Belgian francs (equivalent to nearly 30,000 pounds according to the exchange rate at the time) to the Spanish referee Emilio Gruseta. Then the referee blew away a legal goal of the Forest team during the game and gave Anderlecht a penalty kick. Clough, who was the head coach of the Forest team at the time, got angry on the spot and loudly cursed Gurusetta as a "thief". Many years later, a criminal investigation was conducted in Belgium. At this time, evidence of Vandenstock's bribery was exposed, and the rumor that Anderlecht advanced to the finals with a black whistle was confirmed. However, Guruseta lost his life in a car accident as early as 1987.
Guess what Guruseta was driving to?
Guruseta and his people.
The man was on his way to Osasuna to referee a Copa del Rey match between Osasuna and Real Madrid. And coincidentally, Gruseta also blew a black whistle during the King's Cup. In 1970, Barcelona and Real Madrid met in the so-called "General's Cup (the predecessor of the King's Cup, named after the dictator Franco)" in the quarterfinals. Guruseta gave Real Madrid a penalty kick, but the foul was committed outside the penalty area. Such a penalty that can be easily distinguished even by the naked eye angered Barcelona, which caused Barcelona to boycott him from officiating Barcelona games for 14 years.
Rumor has it that Guruceta's death is related to his offending Barcelona fans. Ironically, Madrid's "Marca" newspaper has established a "Guruceta Award". One is to recognize Guruceta's contribution to the refereeing industry in Spain (actually Real Madrid), and the other is to reward referees who have "outstanding performance" in each La Liga season. As for what the criteria for "outstanding performance" are, you can get an idea by looking at Real Madrid's games. In a cycle of cause and effect, Forest was compensated for the losses it suffered in the semi-finals 42 years ago. After being prompted by the black room, the referee determined that Villa's left back Digne had a handball in the penalty area. "Kiwi" Wood hit the ball and scored the only goal of the game.
In the 71st minute, Hutchinson struggled to save the ball at the bottom line, and the ball hit Digne's raised right hand. Then VAR intervened, and the referee Joao Pedro Pinheiro personally went to review and finally confirmed that Forest had received a penalty kick. Chris Wood took the penalty. He pushed the shot with his right foot and broke into the upper left corner of the goal.
The quality of the game is worthless. The topic focused on Forest midfielder Anderson's flying tackle on national team teammate and Villa forward Watkins. Anderson did tackle the ball, but the sole of his shoe fell on Watkins' ankle. Fortunately, Watkins was not seriously injured. However, Villa coach Emery was very angry and called the tackle Watkins may be injured. Anderson is an important player for Forest to avoid relegation this season and advance to the Europa League. He is also England's main midfielder in the World Cup. It is very likely that he will be transferred to a big club at a high price after the World Cup. Villa also has many international players from various countries who participated in the World Cup. The difference in strength between the two sides is not big. The confrontation is fierce but lacks excitement.
Given that both Arsenal and Crystal Palace have the possibility of reaching the Champions League final and the UEFA Europa League final, the Premier League's attention in the European war is undoubtedly getting more and more profound. UEFA carried out restructuring 10 years ago, allowing the Europa League winners to advance to the Champions League if certain conditions are met. In the 2018-19 season, it took further measures to allow the Europa League champions to directly participate in the Champions League. This greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of the second-tier Premier League teams to participate.
**In the past five seasons since the beginning of this year, La Liga has only won one championship, and the other semi-final was last season when Bilbao was eliminated by Manchester United by a large score. **, **Since the Premier League won 4 Champions League seats 25 years ago, La Liga has risen rapidly in the following 20 years and dominated the two-level competition. Therefore, there has been a saying that La Liga has "high technical and tactical content because the people in the Premier League are stupid and have a lot of money." **, **Since Liverpool reached the 2016 final but lost, in these 10 years, La Liga has won 4 times, Premier League teams have won 3 Europa League championships, and they have also staged civil wars twice, with the top eight guaranteed. **, **At the same time, La Liga’s monopoly on the Europa League is gradually fading. **.
As early as more than ten years ago, I stated that the Premier League teams in the UEFA Cup (now the early stage of the Europa League) can only reach the quarterfinals at most. This is related to the competition reward mechanism. Premier League teams are more concerned about qualifying for the Champions League at the end of the season, or preventing relegation from being too involved in the Europa League. Once the Europa League can also enter the Champions League, the strength of the Premier League will no longer be able to stop it. There will definitely be a Premier League team reaching the final of the Europa League this season. Crystal Palace will become the third London team to enter the Europa League final after Chelsea (West Ham won the cup before). If the Europa League and the European Association are used as a yardstick to measure the overall strength of a league, then the Premier League has proven its undisputed unicorn status in the European war based on its results. This status can be compared to the monopoly that Serie A showed in the UEFA Cup 30 years ago.
In the first leg of the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, Sarr scored a blitzkrieg in just 21 seconds. This wonderful moment went down in history, and Crystal Palace easily defeated Shakhtar with a score of 3-1.
Even though the Premier League already has a clear and overwhelming advantage in the European war, after the 9-goal feast between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern in the Champions League semi-finals, the argument that "Premier League people are stupid and rich" resounded again. This time, it was the British themselves who sang the tune. A host on "Sports Radio", after lamenting the gluttonous feast between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, severely denounced the Premier League as "really a low-level competition" and the scene was extremely dull. So, is the Premier League as "low-level" and "boring" as this "super-hating party" said?
Fans pay great attention to the game scene. Although this is one aspect, it is not the most important factor. Whoever wins or loses is more attractive. Often, the winning or losing of the European war is closely related to the Premier League civil war. Among the top four in the Champions League this season, only Arsenal is still "deeply trapped" in the Premier League title race and cannot relax at all. Bayern has achieved re-election in the Bundesliga, PSG has almost defended its title in Ligue 1, and Atletico Madrid has abandoned La Liga early and has no time to even consider the Copa del Rey. Without the interference of civil war, it is self-evident who is more interested in playing an exciting game. If you look back at the past results of Emery leading different teams to win championships in the Europa League over the years, you will find that it is difficult to show that it was a scene of victory.
Currently, Barcelona is the most watched and attractive team in the European competition. However, they have been unable to successfully enter the finals in two consecutive competitions, and they both failed when facing opponents whose strength and game play were far inferior to theirs. In addition, Inter Milan failed in the final of last season and suffered a complete defeat precisely because before the final of the team was approaching, they still distracted part of their energy to Serie A, making it difficult to fully devote themselves to preparations. This is what happened in the end.
Moreover, the high number of goals is not necessarily due to superb skills. It is more likely to be due to major defensive mistakes. Both Bayern and Paris have obvious deficiencies in defense. The strategy of replacing defense with offense is actually out of helplessness rather than a keenness to take risks. Even though Paris Saint-Germain led 5-2, Bayern still pulled back two goals. Doesn't this just show that the team's defense is not without flaws? The core concepts of the Premier League, or English football, are simplicity, efficiency, and winning and losing. As for whether there are exciting scenes like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, and Paris Saint-Germain, it is not within the scope of deliberately pursuing them.
It is not that the British do not know how to appreciate the incomparable coordination between the four teams of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. However, the teams in the Premier League do not practice or compete according to the pattern of these four teams. Aesthetic style is not the goal pursued by the Premier League. The goal is to be full of suspense and excitement. The British media has praised Anderson, the brave player of Nottingham Forest, which is also a manifestation of this concept and view: practical, reliable and tenacious. But would you pay for a ticket to watch Anderson perform? No way? While Nottingham Forest is competing to qualify for the Europa League finals, it also has to worry about relegation; Aston Villa also has to work hard to keep its precarious spot in the Champions League. In such a situation, coupled with the factors of the derby match, it would be strange to be able to behave with ease and ease.
There is fierce competition within the Premier League, and the strength gap between the three teams is tighter than that of the other four major European leagues. This will naturally make Premier League matches tense and exciting. Thinking back to the 1990s, Milan dominated the Champions League and Serie A was training in the UEFA Cup. Was the scene exciting at that time? Only a few games can barely count, right? Just because there are abnormalities in certain games in the Champions League, denying the quality and style of play in the Premier League, isn't this what the saying goes, overgeneralizing?
There were 20 goals in 6 semifinals, 5 of which were scored by penalty kicks, and 3 goals were related to handball. These 3 goals were also related to UEFA's penalty standards. In order to enhance the enjoyment of the third-level European competition, UEFA stipulates that certain behaviors must award penalty kicks. As long as the referee catches you violating the rules, it will definitely be a penalty kick. If there is a penalty kick, won't there be a goal? Premier League referees have been criticized as "blind" and "black whistlers", but there is almost no controversy when enforcing the law in European games. On the contrary, referees in other leagues either take bribes or make arbitrary penalties (remember Ovreber).
During the Football World Cup, the Premier League referee was criticized for misjudged three yellow cards and was accused of amateurism. However, at the World Cup in Korea and Japan, which referee had a negative impact on the Italian and Spanish teams? Is he an English referee? Later, after investigation, it was discovered that he was actually Mexican, right? There has been a black whistle incident in Serie A, so is there a similar situation in the Premier League? Is there anything similar to the Guruseta mentioned above in England? Stereotypes, coupled with logical errors, can cause many people to have cognitive biases without even realizing it. , there will be people who remember Webb and claim that he is Manchester United's patron. Is this really the case?