Turkish delight for Hansson

In his first public utterances post ‘Henrygate’, Swedish referee Martin Hansson stated that “life must go on.” Well it certainly hasn’t come to a standstill for Hansson and his team of Stade de France officials.

Still on the short-list for next summer’s World Cup finals, all four members of Hansson’s team were yesterday (Sunday) appointed to Champions League games this week.

For Hansson himself it’s a crucial Group B clash between Besiktas and CSKA Moscow in Turkey, with Leonid Slutsky’s Russians still in with a decent shout of making the knockout stages as runners-up to Manchester United.

They’ll be hoping for a big favour from Alex Ferguson’s side, however, when the Red Devils face Wolfsburg in Germany.

Moscow are level on points with Wolfsburg but behind on head-to-heads – so quite simply they need to pick up more points than the Germans on Tuesday night.

As for Hansson, this is his first match since the Paris farce, when neither he nor his assistants spotted Thierry Henry’s handball in the lead-up to William Gallas’s aggregate-winning goal.

Meanwhile Stefan Wittburg, the linesman furthest from the incident nearly three weeks ago, joins Hansson in Istanbul, as does fourth official Martin Ingvarsson.

One of the other controversial figures in the Stade de France on November 18, assistant referee Fredrick Nilsson, is also in Champions League action on Tuesday night – in the Group A dead rubber between Maccabi Haifa and Bordeaux.

Bordeaux can’t be caught at the top, while Haifa are rooted to the foot of the table with zilch points.

So the scope for a high-profile cock-up this week by the linesman closest to Henry’s handball is quite small.

Decent performances this week could seal World Cup spots for Hansson and his pals – which would be all the more galling for Irish fans who last Friday watched France land South Africa as their top seeds in next summer’s finals.

As for the football, I’m going for a Moscow (11/8)/Bordeaux (6/4) away double.

Categories: Soccer