He’s serious too.
Okay, perhaps everything looks a little bit sweeter when you get the result you were after – especially after coming from behind – but Gordon Strachan must’ve forgotten the 90 minutes that just went beforehand.
Referee, Nicola Rizzoli, came in for special praise from the Scotland manager after what was a thoroughly underwhelming performance from both him and his officials in Dublin.
And the Scots could’ve felt just as aggrieved as the Irish with a number of questionable decisions – including the opening goal – being flung in either direction by the Italian whistler.
His indecisive linesmen didn’t help either. But, despite an offside goal, despite a number of clear fouls going unpunished and then 50-50s being pulled up, despite a chronic malfunction that makes the official point in the wrong direction, Strachan was impressed by the referee and he didn’t care about Ireland’s dubious goal.
“I’ve not seen it,” the Scots manager said afterwards. “And I must say, I’m just going to get back on the plane and have a cup of tea. I’m not interested in any of this ‘was he offside or was he not offside’.
“But I thought the referee was terrific the whole game. Maybe there were one or two things that could’ve went better but I thought he knew when people were looking for fouls – he spotted that when normally a referee isn’t brave enough to do that.
“I think he helped to make it an intense game. Okay, maybe there were one or two that were a bit dubious but…”
Naturally, Martin O’Neill did not agree. One bit.
