Josep Guardiola and the referees, a double-sided relationship. If yesterday evening the Bayern coach stood up as a moralizer commenting on the protests of Juventus CEO Beppe Marotta (and in the past he had slapped others, see Mourinho), in his history as a coach, between Spain and Germany, however, it is not missing some fall in style also on his part.
Many of which, ironically, in this period of the year, between March and April, in the hot phase of the European championships and cups, when even a man of class like him can happen to lose his head. ran the 28 April 2009 when, in Pep's first season in charge of Barcelona, the blaugrana impact 0-0 at the Camp Nou against Hiddink's Chelsea. The English play hard, but the German referee Stark warns with a dropper. At the end of the match, Pep didn't skimp on criticism of the Teutonic whistle: “It's incredible that a match like this ended with the same number of yellow cards for each team, in particular Ballack had to be sent off: Iniesta was in the area, he deserved a second yellow card. Everyone knows that every detail is decisive in the Champions League, but yesterday the episodes didn't help us, when an attacking team should be favourites." For the record, it was Barcelona who passed, winning in London thanks to several episodes in favor (unforgettable was the scene of anger of the Blues forward Didier Drogba, who attacked the referee at the end of the match).
Two years later, the 24 April 2011, Guardiola's controversy comes at the most tense moment in the rivalry with the then Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho. For the occasion, the recrimination is even double: three days before the first leg of the Champions League against the You meringues, the Catalan poet lets slip some not exactly sporting statements regarding the possible designation of the Portuguese Proença for the direction of the match (later assigned to the German Stark). “If Proença is designated, Real Madrid will be very happy – says Guardiola – it was last year, it will be this time too“. The reference is to the Inter-Barcelona semi-final of the previous season, refereed by the Portuguese Benquerença, who at the time penalized Barça by validating an offside goal by Inter and not assigning a penalty for a foul on Dani Alves in the area. Not happy, Pep doubles his attention by referring to the recent elimination in the Copa del Rey at the hands of Real: "The cup escaped us through the fault of a line assistant with very good eyesight: he signaled a goal by Pedro who was offside by two centimeters. And it's precisely because of these two centimeters that we haven't won now”.
The year before, however, in La Liga, Guardiola was expelled for having violently protested with a linesman during a match against Osasuna on March 6, 2010: the coach intervened after having reviewed the offside episode using a monitor on the sideline (an operation also prohibited by the regulation). “You whistle everything backwards, you don't understand anything!”, He yelled at the assistant referee. In that case the Spanish sports newspaper Trademarks he recalled that it was the fifth expulsion as a Barcelona coach and the 13th overall as a member of the Catalan club: the 8 red cards as a player are still a record for the club. Guardiola was sent off on another occasion again against Osasuna and for the first time ever as a coach against Bayern Munich, in a previous Champions League match.
Even in Germany Pep continued to report himself for a few too many recriminations. The most recent is dated a year ago: the 29 April 2015 violently protested against the referee for failing to award a penalty to striker Robert Lewandowsky during the German Cup semi-final against Dortmund. Two weeks earlier, the Bavarian coach ran 50 meters from his bench until he came into contact with the linesman positioned at the corner flag: the protest was for an offside whistle again in Lewandowsky, in the match against Schalke04 finished 1-1. At the end Guardiola, satisfied with the result, left the field embracing the fourth man. A few months earlier, the 27 October 2014, Bayern plays against Borussia Mönchengladbach and the result is stuck at 0-0: the Catalan coach, visibly annoyed by the opponents' players wasting time, protests energetically with the fourth official, the female referee Bibiana Steinhaus, verbally assaulting her and coming into contact with her several times, albeit not in a violent way. "This scene shows Guardiola's character very well", the newspaper Die Welt controversially judges: "Would you have had the courage even with male officials?". The episode was much criticized by the press and insiders, branded as sexist as well as unsportsmanlike.
