The atmosphere was tense, the battle of two football giants, and the clash of two great managers. Who would be the star of the show and give a performance for the fans to remember? Well that goes to the referee

With the score set at 1-1 on aggregate and all still to play for in the match between Manchester United and Real Madrid. It looked like it was going to be a memorable occasion, which it was, but for the wrong reasons. The match started out well and first half was a nervous occasion with more of the chances going for Man Utd, but it was the second half in which the match truly ignited.

After the first half resumed Man Utd got a well worked lead, forcing Sergio Ramos to commit a mistake and concede an own goal. Real Madrid began to work their way back into the game when a challenge by Nani was met with a decision which would hugely influence the outcome of the match. Nani had a high foot which caught Alvaro Arbeloa and perhaps should have been met with a yellow card at most, but instead the referee decided to show a red card which was met with huge disbelief.

The decision will be debated for weeks with some arguing that there was no malicious intent in the challenge as Nani kept his eye on the ball until the final impact. The opposing argument will be regardless of intent the challenge was still reckless and the rules state that a reckless challenge must be met with a red card. The referee had time to think his decision through and chose the card he felt was worthy of the challenge.

Madrid went on to dominate possession and gain two goals back with former United star Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winning goal. United gave a spirited fight back, but the outstanding performance of stand in goalkeeper Diego Lopez prevented Man Utd from getting close to equalising.

Personally I think a yellow card would have sufficed and I hope the decision doesn’t make people forget about the huge achievement of 1,000 appearances for Ryan Giggs. But ultimately the game will be remembered for that decision and this is a shame because it had the potential to be an exhibition of the wonderful talent in the two teams.