It was one of the most exciting matches in this year's Champions League. But it might not have ended up the same way if the referee hadn't allowed offside goals to stand.
The winning goal, scored eventually by Felipe Santana, who scored from right on the goal line, fooled uninspired Scottish referee Craig Thomson and his similarly disappointing colleagues.
If they had seen that four Dortmund attackers were offside, they surely would have disallowed the goal that sent the Germans through to the semifinals.
And, also, just like Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp said, at the press conference after the match, Eliseu looked like he was slightly offside when he scored Malaga's second goal, too (with just a hint of Baptista also potentially being offside, when the ball was released towards him).
(But don't believe Klopp when he says the first goal was also offside. When Joaquin scored, the Malaga player that might have been offside did not interfere with the ball trajectory and effect, so the decision to have that goal stand was correct.)
Anyhow, even if there may be extenuating circumstances when it comes to Eliseu's goal, the goal that made it 3-2 contained a clear infringement, and, so, the referees are totally guilty of ruining the result.
People gloss over these decisions too easily. A few weeks, and it's all but forgotten. These referees should be punished. At such a level, with so much money at stake, Craig Thomson and his team should not referee again for 5-10 years, considering what they did. They should have to take regular jobs to be able to continue having money to live, for a good amount of time before returning to refereeing.
Either punish the bastards, or allow live replays that the referees can see and overturn their wrong decisions!
But, if members of the teams' squad or staff complain too much, they are the ones who get in trouble with the officials. Stupid FIFA and UEFA, and their stupid rules that so many times ruin fair play and sportsmanship!
They say they're doing something about it, by talking about introducing goal-line technology for three years now.
Goal-line technology is not enough. That's only for the goal line, of course. But, obviously, referees make a ton of other mistakes, which aren't on the goal line.
The offside which the referees should have caught and dealt with did not occur when Santana pushed the goal in, from the goal line; it came when the ball was first played in behind the Spanish line of defense.
Live replays should be used. How expensive could that be? I'm sure it's cheaper than some technology that would be put on the goal-line, if, as FIFA might suggest, this is about high costs. But, most likely, FIFA and UEFA like to be able to cheat if they want, and that's why they won't use replays. That's also why these bullshit referees aren't punished severely, I think.
In this sense, this match was very disappointing and heartbreaking, for many fans.
But there were some positives, too.
The best thing about this quarter-final, second leg, was seeing Willy Caballero's wonderful saves, in the Malaga goal.
The best goalkeeper, in terms of overall percentage of saves, in the 2012-2013 Champions League saved his team from 2 or 3 almost-as-good-as-given Dortmund goals. This guy should be Argentina's goalie at next year's World Cup.
Too bad that he was left almost alone against 3-4 Dortmund players, for each of the last two goals of the match. Still, he might have prevented the goals, if the Germans did not have the presence of mind to always pass the ball quickly amongst themselves.
One thing coaches should learn from matches such as this one is that: lack of experience in big matches + tendency to play the offside trap instead of working hard in defense = (almost always) elimination.
But for the neutral spectator, this was probably the best and most exciting second-leg encounter.
And, in the end, the more hard-working, attack-minded team progressed over the more pragmatic, opportunistic team.
Highlights:
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