These soccer scandals rocked the sports world. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re examining our picks for the most shocking controversies on and off the pitch that have rocked the Champions League since its rebranding in the 1992/93 season.
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00:00 Did you try and explain that you didn't hear it?
00:02 I did, yeah, I did. I did sort of explain that there were 95,000 people jumping up,
00:07 so how could I hear his whistle?
00:09 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're examining our picks for the most shocking controversies
00:14 on and off the pitch that have rocked the Champions League since its rebranding in the 1992-93 season.
00:20 From television, I didn't see, to be fair. But other people say nobody can confirm it's a goal.
00:26 We'll explore what happened in European club football's biggest competition and the aftermath.
00:31 Ronaldo's Double Trouble
00:34 At the time of writing, Cristiano Ronaldo is still the Champions League's top goal scorer with 140.
00:40 One of his greatest striking feats was a hat-trick against Bayern Munich for Real Madrid
00:45 in the second leg of the quarter-final in 2017. Well, at least on paper.
00:50 Two of his goals shouldn't have counted.
00:52 In the days before VAR was in the competition, CR7's second finish in extra time was well offside.
00:58 The second goal by Ronaldo is not close. It's offside by a yard.
01:01 Then the third that sealed his hat-trick also appeared to be offside.
01:05 Throw in Arturo Vidal's controversial sending off, and Bayern fans were livid.
01:10 The result gave Madrid a 6-3 win on aggregate, and they went on to win the competition.
01:15 That stunk from the high heavens of, once again,
01:19 "Real Madrid getting decisions they should never have gotten."
01:22 Fergie's Rage
01:23 In a perfect world, in his final season as a manager,
01:26 Manchester United's Alex Ferguson would have won the Champions League in 2013.
01:31 However, it wasn't to be. In the round of 16, United took on Real Madrid.
01:37 After drawing one all in the first leg, United were one up in the return fixture.
01:41 But then, Nani was sent off for booting Alvaro Arboloa in the side of his body.
01:46 The decision split fans. Some thought it was harsh since Nani was focusing on the ball.
01:51 "I think the referees actually made the right call, and everyone's upset about it,
01:54 and they're slightly unlucky, but it's a dangerous play."
01:56 Others believe it was dangerous and justified.
01:59 Regardless, down to 10 players, United lost 2-1 and were knocked out.
02:04 Fergie was so angry he refused to attend the post-match press conference,
02:08 earning himself an £8,500 fine.
02:11 "What I'm saying is, that's where I think he's very unlucky,
02:13 and Manchester United are very unlucky to go out."
02:16 The Abandoned Milan Derby
02:18 In football's history, the photograph of Inter Milan's Marco Materazzi leaning on
02:22 AC Milan's Justin Huicosta as they watch flares blazing is one of the most iconic.
02:27 In 2005's quarter-final second leg, AC were in control.
02:31 They had beaten their city rivals 2-0 in the first leg and were leading 1-0.
02:35 But then, after Inter had a goal disallowed, furious Inter fans lobbed flares onto the pitch,
02:40 one of which struck AC's goalkeeper Dida.
02:43 The chaos caused the match to be abandoned.
02:46 In the aftermath, AC were awarded a 3-0 win, taking them through to the next round.
02:51 Inter were fined £132,000 and had to play their next four European games without spectators.
02:58 Anders Frisk's sudden retirement
03:01 After a fan threw a coin at Swedish referee Anders Frisk during a game between Roma and
03:06 Dinamo Kyiv drawing blood, his 2004-2005 season couldn't get any worse, right?
03:12 In the round of 16, Barcelona took on Chelsea in the first leg.
03:16 During it, Chelsea's Didier Drogba received two yellows,
03:19 getting him sent off as Barcelona won 2-1.
03:23 Chelsea manager José Mourinho claimed that Frisk spoke to his Barcelona counterpart Frank
03:27 Rijkaard at halftime, stirring claims of a conspiracy.
03:31 Chelsea fans sent violent threats to Frisk and his family,
03:34 and within weeks, the referee retired from the sport.
03:37 Drogba publicly apologized to Frisk, while Mourinho was banned for the next round and
03:42 fined £9,000. Chelsea was also fined £33,300.
03:48 The Buffon blow-up
03:50 Gianluigi Buffon is arguably the greatest keeper to put on gloves,
03:54 but in 2018, he dented his stellar reputation.
03:57 During the second leg of the quarterfinal between Juventus and Real Madrid,
04:01 the Italians were 3-0 up, leveling the tie on aggregate.
04:05 Then, in the dying minutes, Lucas Vazquez was brought down in the box by Mehdi Benazia.
04:10 When referee Michael Oliver awarded a penalty to Madrid, Juventus players exploded in rage.
04:15 Led by Buffon, the group accosted Oliver. The abuse was so bad that the legendary goalkeeper
04:21 was shown a red card. Madrid scored the resulting penalty and went through.
04:25 Afterward, Buffon insulted Oliver publicly.
04:28 Fans got a hold of Oliver's wife's phone number and death threats poured in.
04:32 Buffon was slapped with a three-match ban.
04:35 "He said, 'I feel great pride, great dignity, and great happiness for what we managed.'"
04:39 The alleged doping final
04:41 After securing the Champions League the year before,
04:44 a star-studded Ajax side hoped to win again by beating Juventus in the 1996 final.
04:49 However, after the score finished 1-1, the Italian side won on penalties.
04:54 In 1998, then-Roma manager Zdeněk Zeman publicly stated football needed to, quote,
04:59 "get out of the pharmacy" and pointed the finger at Juventus, which led to an investigation.
05:04 In 2004, Juventus' club doctor, Riccardo Agricola, was given a suspended sentence
05:10 for doping players between 1994 and 1998. While he successfully appealed the decision in 2005
05:17 and was rehired by the club in 2017, the scandal has tainted the final and Juventus' reputation
05:23 ever since.
05:24 "I'd be looking at players I played against, a couple of Italian teams,
05:27 and they looked like they'd not even played a match."
05:29 The harshest second yellow
05:31 Having beaten Barcelona in the first leg of 2011's Round of 16,
05:35 Arsenal looked to be in the driver's seat for the return match. With the score locked at 1-1,
05:40 in the 56th minute, Arsenal's Robin van Persie was through on goal.
05:44 However, the referee, Massimo Buzacca, blew his whistle for offside.
05:49 Seemingly unable to hear it, van Persie took a shot before seeing the assistant's flag up.
05:54 Shockingly, Buzacca held up a yellow card to van Persie for time-wasting.
05:58 Since it was his second, the Dutch striker was sent off. With a player advantage,
06:03 Barca took control and won the game 3-1.
06:06 Van Persie and manager Arsene Wenger heavily criticized the decision during their post-match
06:10 interviews.
06:11 "One second from his whistle to my shot is just a joke. And he's been bad all evening. He's been
06:16 a joke all evening, whistling against us. So I don't know why he's here tonight. Honestly,
06:21 I think it's a joke."
06:22 Chelsea's cold shoulder
06:23 In 2009, after drawing 1-1 against Barcelona in the semi-final, Chelsea was knocked out on away
06:29 goals, denying them a chance at redemption against Manchester United from the year before.
06:34 Yet as the final whistle went, carnage erupted.
06:37 Chelsea believed referee Tom-Henning Oeverbe had not given them several penalties they rightfully
06:43 deserved. Drogba had to be pulled away by others as he cursed repeatedly at the ref and cameras.
06:49 Due to fears for his safety, the police escorted Oeverbe from the stadium.
06:53 He then received threats on his life as his address was placed online.
06:57 Afterward, Drogba was suspended for three European matches,
07:00 teammate José Bozingua for two, and the club was fined around £85,000.
07:05 Oeverbe later admitted his faults in the game.
07:08 Garcia's ghost goal
07:11 In 2005, the Champions League had a mouth-watering semi-final as English sides Liverpool and Chelsea
07:16 faced off. After the first leg ended in a goalless draw, it was all to play for in the return fixture.
07:23 Shortly after kick-off, Liverpool's Luis Garcia took advantage of a penalty box
07:27 scramble to knock the ball towards the goal. Then it gets confusing. Some think
07:32 William Gallas stopped it from crossing the line, while others believe it went over.
07:36 The referee went with the latter and awarded the goal. Liverpool managed to hold off Chelsea and
07:47 progress to the final. Since it was years before goal-line technology was implemented,
07:52 pundits and fans analyzed the goal intently. Yet there are still contradicting beliefs on
07:57 whether it should have stood. Before we unveil our top pick, here are some honorable mentions.
08:07 European Super League
08:08 Elite European clubs attempted to create a rival to UEFA, only for fan backlash to destroy it.
08:14 Chaos in the stadium
08:21 Poor safety and aggressive police and fans caused hundreds of spectator injuries in the final.
08:26 Celtic losing yet progressing
08:37 An ineligible Legia Warsaw player caused the Scots to progress despite a heavy loss.
08:41 The Belgium fix
08:44 Genk and Westerlo seemingly fixed a draw to secure a possible Champions League place.
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09:04 The misery of Marseille
09:07 With the European Cup being rebranded as the Champions League,
09:10 UEFA was probably hoping for a smooth transition. Instead, it was anything but.
09:16 In 1993, Marseille beat AC Milan 1-0 to lift the trophy. Yet shortly after,
09:21 on top of doping allegations, the side was accused of bribery.
09:26 Before the final, Marseille faced Valenciennes in the French Division 1.
09:30 Marseille's Jean-Jacques Aydli contacted several Valenciennes players to bribe them to take it easy
09:35 so their side would be fresh for the final. However, Jacques Glassman rejected it and blew
09:39 the whistle on the scandal. While Marseille kept the Champions League win, they were stripped of
09:44 the league title and relegated. Then, club president Bernal Tapie and Aydli received
09:49 prison sentences for their roles. Who scored the greatest Champions League goal? Zidane's volley
09:55 against Leverkusen? Bale's overhead strike against Liverpool? Ronaldo's long-range drive
10:00 against Porto? Or something else? Let us know below.
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