Referees hugely favored Real Madrid during Three-peat historic achievement, claims former Barcelona star
Real Madrid's 3-peat was a farce?
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Arturo Vidal (Source: via SkySports)
Former Barcelona midfielder, Arturo Vidal has come out on stream to expose referee’s bias towards Real Madrid.”Real Madrid were favored by the referee twice in their 3-peat, when they beat Bayern Munich in 2017 and 2018.” said the Chilean player.
Arturo Vidal played in the 2017 fixture for Bayern Munich. The midfielder at the time played for Carlo Ancelotti‘s Bayern team and was a rock for the Bavarian side. The midfielder, however, was sent off during Bayern’s game against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. A second yellow card for his challenge on Marcos Ascensio saw Bayern reduced to 10 men. However, on replay, it was shown that Vidal got the ball first and Marcos had hit Vidal’s cleats instead of the ball. “I think that’s why they then introduced VAR.” spoke Vidal who certainly has a case as he would have most likely not been sent off.
A player who did make it out without a red card was Casemiro. A challenge on a sprinting Arjen Robben saw the Bayern players shouting for the Brazilian to be sent off. It never happened. Another reason for Vidal’s statement was Cristiano Ronaldo‘s 2 offside goals. In a game which ended 4-2 in Madrid’s favor, two could have been ruled out as Ronaldo seemed offside. Both Vidal and Franck Ribéry took to Instagram, drawing on the pitch to showcase the referee’s error. However, removing the two goals would have still ended the game in Madrid’s favor as the aggregate score would have been 4-3. His argument for the 2018 SFs however, holds no proof. A GK’s error by Sven Ulreich gave Madrid an easy 2nd goal on the night, enough to put them through.
Real Madrid since have gone on to win their 14th Champions League in the ’21/22 season, after the release of VAR. No arguments have emerged over that achievement.
Arturo Vidal’s Illustrious Career
While his statements may put him in a bad light, Arturo Vidal still has an incredibly decorated career in football. He is 5x Serie A champions. 4 with Juventus and 1 with Inter. A 3x Bundesliga Champion with Bayern and a La Liga Champion with Barcelona, the midfielder has played for some of the best teams in Europe. The Chilean was also part of the Nation Team which won two back-to-back Copa América‘s in 2015 and 2016. Many fans would also regard him as the best Chilean player of all time over Alexis Sánchez due to his longevity at the highest level.
Arturo Vidal has also been coached by some of the greatest managers in Modern football. Pep Guardiola would be an immediate No.1 in most people’s minds. The Chilean played 30 games in the Bundesliga for the Spanish coach. At Bayern, Vidal would also play under Carlo Ancelloti and Bayern’s treble-winning manager, Jupp Heynckes. At Juve, he would play under Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri. He would also be a part of the Juventus dynasty which would dominate Serie A for almost a decade. He was once again reunited with Conte at Inter where the midfielder made 23 appearances winning another Scudetto.
Inter was Vidal’s last European club. Vidal, now 36, plays for Club Athletico Paranaense in Brazil. The player now begins his second season in Brazil, already bagging a trophy with Flamengo in his first season away from Europe. Vidal truly wins wherever he goes.
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Gerard Crispin
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