Torres deserved red card against Barcelona

Felix Brych sent off Fernando Torres in the 35th minute of tonight’s Champions League match against Barcelona at the Camp Nou. The score at that point was 0-1 with Torres himself having scored the opening goal.

The German referee correctly showed the Atlético Madrid striker two yellow cards. For the first the striker didn’t go for the ball, and brought down Neymar. A fair caution.

For the second yellow card, four minutes later, Torres was late in a clumsy challenge from behind on Busquets, where he had no possibility of playing the ball. Again, a challenge worthy of going into the book.

Overall both yellow cards were deserved and, therefore, Torres’ sending off, to leave Atleti down to 10 men for 65 minutes.

Ildefonso Urizar Azpitarte was a top-flight referee from 1977 to 1991.