Thursday, May 18, 2006

Arsenal's Henry blasts "horrendous" ref


Arsenal captain Thierry Henry blasted ref Terje Hauge for his performance in last night's Champions League final.
"I was kicked all over the place. Carles Puyol and Rafael Marquez should have got yellow cards," he said.
"To defend against me with a yellow card - it's not the same game any more. I expected the referee to do his job. I don't think he did."
However, Henry did agree with Hauge's decision to send off Arsenal keeper Jens Lehmann for a professional foul on Samuel Eto'o after 18 minutes.
"It was a clear sending-off for Jens but if they didn't want us to win, they should have just said it from the start," he said.
"It was more than difficult. Next time I'm going to learn how to dive maybe."
But Henry, who was also upset that he was booked for a second-half challenge when he appeared to win the ball, said he was proud of Arsenal's efforts.
"Everyone was talking about Ronaldinho before the game. I didn't see him today and I didn't see Eto'o," he said.
"Henrik Larsson made the difference by setting up two goals. That was the key.
"We can be proud, we can be more than proud but I'm sorry, some of the refereeing today was horrendous."