Red cards

Does anyone else think that those red cards were totally totally out of order. Pepe's sending of was a clear and blatant error, was openly only trying to control the ball. As for the half time scuffle, did anyone notice he was just having a wee hissy fit until the Real guy came and grabbed him by the throat? It's the sort of stuff we see every week in the SPL and EPL and nothing serious until he got grabbed. And Jose should'nt have been sent to the stands either.

And no I'm not a Real fan in the slightest, there were bad calls for both teams. Fair enough the ref has to stamp his authority on the game but thats not how you get the respect of the players

Didn't see the red card in the first half so can't comment on that, but Pepe's sending off was a complete joke, and Mourinho's seemed a bit harsh as well.

Pepe's challenge was a bad one, but it deserved no more than a yellow card. Dani Alves' play acting probably didn't help his cause but I found it ironic when Pepe was questioning the reaction to the tackle when only minutes earlier he'd made out that he was shot in the challenge that saw Javier Mascherano booked. You just knew that Dani Alves would be jogging straight back onto the pitch once he was off the stretcher. It was a mis-timed challenge, no more no less.

As for Mourinho, we don't know everything that was said but from the TV replays you could see him saying "Well done" and winking at the fourth official after the red card. If he was sent off for that, which is what I'm basing my opinion on, then I think it's out of order. Obviously he could have said something else that warranted a sending off or maybe the fourth official just doesn't like getting winked at.

On a side note, how appalling was that game last night? The antics of the players (particularly Pedro and Sergio Busquets) were infuriating and embarassing. If I was Guardiola I would be ashamed of them and force them to watch their diving & over reaction to challenges again and again in the hope it would shame them into changing their ways.

Somehow I doubt it would have any effect.

Completely agree with Y2, pepe's sending of was a complete joke, he was perfectly entitled to go for that ball. Alves was play acting so much I think he deserved a yellow as well for simulation. As for murinho he had this last at the nou camp with Thiaggo motta gentely stroking Sergio Busquets' face. That was also a ridiculous sending off.

Y2, as far as I know all he did was wink and say well done in English to the guy. Totally uncalled for. And yip 100% right, actually had to force myself to watch the first 25 of the second half. And yeah Messi brightened the game up but he didn't really make the game anymore interesting. Found myself wishing he would get the ball just so we could see a bit of actual football instead of people falling over

I find it hard to have any sort of sympathy for Mourinho when his Porto team as talented as they where dived, cheated and time wasted their way to the Uefa Cup in 03

I saw nothing wrong with the red,it was high, late and that's something you just don't do in the CL!