Arsène Wenger... Manager gives his opinion on the referee's performance
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By Richard Clarke
For a man whose side had just scrambled an 88th-minute equaliser, Arsène Wenger cut an angry figure at full time in Kiev on Wednesday night.
Dynamo Kyiv had taken a controversial lead when referee Luis Medina Cantalejo adjudged Bacary Sagna to have bundled over Ognjen Vukojevic allowing Ismael Bangoura to score from the penalty spot.
William Gallas then stepped in with his late equaliser, but having got the goal, Wenger was looking for a winner. Therefore he was naturally frustrated when the referee appeared to blow for full time ahead of schedule. In his post-match press conference, the Arsenal manager explained why he spoke to the official after the game.
"I wanted to understand how we were going to play three minutes of injury time, and then only had one minute," said the Frenchman.
“Every referee looks to have a different computer to calculate the injury time. I still do not know and really understand how it works.
"It looks like [it happens] through inspiration of the referee and he could not explain it. He just said it was enough."
It was doubly frustrating for Wenger as his side had the opportunities to kill the Group G tie in the first half but failed to take them. Dynamo scored and might have got a second but the Gallas goal shifted the balance of the tie and the manager was sensing victory.
"When we got to 1-1, there was no game any more,” he said. “We were on top, they looked very tired, but the game was finished because of the interruptions for injuries and stoppages.
"You could feel the game was there for the taking, but we had no more opportunity to play."
[Thursday, September 18, 2008]
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