Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger: Who has more reason to rant about officials?

Massimo Busacca (PA)

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“When I saw who was refereeing it, I feared the worst,” Sir Alex Ferguson bemoaned. “Frankly it is embarrassing,” uttered a disgusted Arsene Wenger. Yet this isn’t fast-forward to Saturday night’s post-match interviews, in which the Manchester United and Arsenal managers settle their differences to mount a unified assault on the match referee, oh no.

The past 10 days have seen the Premier League front-runners dealt a somewhat unfortunate hand as key and costly decisions have gone against both sides with the campaign having well and truly entered the business end of the season.

Ferguson was enraged by the manner of his side’s defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge at the start of the month, feeling that referee Martin Atkinson had well and truly dealt him a pinch and a punch.

In a match which saw Carlo Ancelotti’s side run out 2-1 winners, despite trailing from a Wayne Rooney strike on the half-hour mark, United saw Atkinson award what Ferguson described as a “very soft” penalty, before seeing captain Nemanja Vidic dismissed for a second yellow, while Chelsea’s influential defender defender David Luiz remained on the park despite repeat offences.

And to literally add insult to injury, Nani was the victim of a reckless challenge from Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher – a incident which would see the Portuguese winger ruled out for the rest of the month with a heavy gash to his leg – yet the centre-back remained on the pitch with the Reds running out 3-1 winners on the day.

As for Wenger, he was hoping for a positive start to March having seen his side blow a fuse in the League Cup final defeat to Birmingham.

Having beaten Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, the Gunners took on Sunderland at the Emirates with the chance of moving to within a point of United at the top of the table. But the game would finish goalless, albeit in controversial circumstances.

First, Andrey Arshavin appeared to be pushed in the penalty area by Titus Bramble, before the Russian saw a perfectly good goal chalked off for offside. But nothing could compare to the ‘killing’ of the game by referee Massimo Busacca in Camp Nou.

Having been dominated by Barcelona throughout the match, Arsenal were given a lifeline as makeshift defender Sergio Busquets headed past his own ‘keeper to hand the Gunners the aggregate lead.

With Wenger’s side looking to capitalise on the home fans’ unease, Robin van Persie broke clear before unleashing an effort on Victor Valdes’ goal – but the Dutchman had been ruled offside.
Astonishingly, Busacca deemed Van Persie to have deliberately kicked the ball away, and as such awarded the striker his second booking of the night.

Van Persie pleaded his innocence, that the cheering crowd – of over 90,000 – prevented him from hearing the decision. Analysis showed that merely a second had passed since the whistle was blown, and the strike itself. Down to ten men, Barcelona were quickly able to regain their stronghold, and the rest is history.

So following ten days of turmoil for the Premier League’s leading pack, and ahead of their FA Cup meeting on Saturday, Goal.Com UK asks the question…

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