Ivan Bebek was directing the Europa League game between Sporting Braga and Fenerbahce but did not get any fans among Fener’s supporters
We are persistent in writing about the quality of the Croatian Football Federation's process of delegating referees and Ivan Bebek, nominated as the best Croatian football referee, did not do anything to persuade us we are wrong for raising this issue. As a start here is a video of his crucial call from the Europa League game played yesterday, March 17. 2016. in Braga between Sporting and Fenerbahce:
With this decision, he did not win any fans in Turkey (except from maybe Galatasaray supporters) as it was, to say the least, a doubtful call. Fener player was clearly getting his hand away from the ball, but simply did not have enough time to do so, as the ball was struck into him quite hard and from a close range. Bebek went on with building his authority showing Volkan the second yellow card and sent him off.
While it is causing a big disturbance in the Turkish media, and Fenerbahce is allegedly intending to send the claim to UEFA, insisting on suspending the Croatian referee, for Hajduk fans this is not a big surprise. They have met Mr. Bebek on more than one occasion, and it is our humble opinion that he has somewhat of a problem with deciding if hands were used properly by players. Here is the video clip of one Hajduk - Dinamo game, when Bebek decided this is not a penalty;
Just to be sure we are getting this right, you will have a chance to see one more call made by the hero of this article, as he was on a big stage, directing the Champions League match between Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk. If we stress out that Darijo Srna, player blocking the shot with his back in the clip, is actually a former Hajduk captain, is it somewhat of a pattern?
Ok, all joking aside, it is a fact that in Croatia there was a trial, where refereeing officials were accused of taking a bribe, and were convicted at the first stage of the trial. This conviction is not final yet, but the matter of the fact is, those people involved were taped by police explaining that the bribe is actually for the referees. CFF has done nothing in following on these accusations, and we have currently the very same referees directing the games in Croatia.
Also, UEFA should look into the referees promotion process inside the Croatian Football Federation since in our opinion, it is currently done in a way that is everything but transparent. And as for Fenerbahce fans, they could be wondering about Croatian referees, as if Bebek is Croatia’s finest, what is with the others?
