Xpress-qTODAY PAGE-1011.XPRESS.30Apr09 - Xpress - The Nation

28 BANGKOK Thursday, April 30, 2009 DAILY XPRESS
THESPORT
GERETS’GETAWAY
Chelsea’s ultra-defensive performance
against Barcelona in their Champions
League semi-final has been given a
damning verdict by the Barcelona press
which claimed that their over-physical
game plan went unpunished by the referee.While
there has been general praise
for the impenetrable wall that Chelsea
built in the Camp Nou to hold out 0-0,
the Catalan paper Sport was not alone in
saying that the referee failed to give a
“blatant” penalty on Thierry Henry and
that Michael Ballack should have been
dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Following on from the criticism from
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and his
players after the game, Sport raged: “The
referee Wolfgang Stark will not be forgotten
after his performance at the Nou
Camp, motivated by the absurd and erroneous
theory to limit the number of yellow
cards and simply give warnings. He
allowed Chelsea to commit serious and
continual fouls at their pleasure and not
punish them.
“On top of this he bottled a decision
to give a penalty conceded by Jose
Bosingwa on Thierry Henry after 72 minutes.”
Sport added: “Stark compounded his
poor display by failing to give a second
yellow card to his compatriot Michael
Ballack.”
El Mundo Deportivo, also from
Barcelona, was similarly critical but they
did give credit to Chelsea's indomitable
spirit.“A physical midfield which was
magnificently organised, a heavily populated
defence and powerful outlets in
attack, coupled with a less than shining
performance from the azulgrana with
their attacking trident switched off, led
to a disappointing draw,” it read.
The general feeling was that only one
team came to the match looking to play
football. “There is little that can be said
against Barca, they played valiantly, generously
and they persevered, always
faithful to their style,” read El Pais.
AFP
TENNIS
No Davis Cup for
Thai ace Danai
Danai Udomchoke is quitting the Davis Cup
to concentrate on his singles career. He’s
announced that the tie against Kazakhstan
in July will be his farewell game – a heavy
blow to the already-fragile national squad.
The consolation is that the country’s ace
will represent the country in the Asian
Games in Guangzhou next year. >PAGE 24
Marseille coach Eric Gerets dropped a bombshell
as he told his title-leading players he would be
quitting the club at the end of the season.
STARK
EFFECT
German referee Wolfgang
Stark, centre, shows a
yellow card to Chelsea’s Michael
Ballack during the Champions
League semi-final 0-0 draw
with Barcelona.
NBA
Bulls Pierced by
Boston’s big man
Chicago and Boston needed another
overtime to settle a score and Orlando
turned in a dominating performance in a
pair of NBA game five play-off contests.
Paul Pierce made three consecutive
jump shots in the closing minutes
of overtime and the Celtics held
on to beat Bulls. >PAGE 27