The Turkish officials sending off of Nani early in the second half, with United leading 1-0 undoubtedly changed the entire complexion of the game and shifted it into the Spaniards favour. The whole of Old Trafford was left stunned by such a seemingly bad call, which robbed the Reds of a fair crack of the whip.
Was the ref wrong though? It’s easy to jump on the bandwagon but some, even former skipper Roy Keane claim Nani had to go.
Personally I was expecting a yellow- which I felt was harsh, so a red seems barmy, but we’ve seen this all before (Porto 2004).
The biggest shame of the night wasn’t the fact that United went down to ten men, it’s that the Reds couldn’t weather the storm a bit better or even grab a goal back and really give Madrid something to think about in the last ten minutes or so.
Ah well, bring on Chelsea….