It's always alarming to see a referee drastically change his style of calling a match especially when an upset of this magnitude occurs, but of course, matches are never fixed, I mean, there's never an agenda to do so. Anyhow...
The referee in question, Claus Bo Larsen, prior to this match averaged about 29.8 fouls and three cards per match. (Information provided from Football-Lineups.com and UEFA.com.)
Larsen's total for the match in question? 10 fouls, zero cards. As I said in my match review, the early goal must have negated him from having to referee any further. And of course, a side down never changes their tactics.
Want an even more alarming stat? Beşiktaş committed three fouls the whole match. Three fouls? I implore anyone to show me a match where a side only had three fouls called on it, ever. That's insane.
That's why all you can do is laugh.
Edit: Well, I found a match where a side was called for two fouls and this is just incredulous. The match was the September 12 Euro-qualifier between Italy and Ukraine. Guess which side had only two fouls called on it? That's right, those amazing Italians. A total of 9 fouls was called for the entire match, quite a change from that particular ref's 28.8 average.
Anyhow, what's even more unbelievable is the referee who called the match was Howard Webb. Why is that significant? Because he's the head official for our match with Arsenal on Sunday. It doesn't get any better than that.
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