Penalty? Yes
Red Card? Probably, yes.
is that a pen for you? really, you're happy with the state of the game if that is considered a pen?
i think the game suffers overall if that is considered a pen. of course there was contact and of course you could argue using the rules that it was a pen, but really did the contact actually make berbatov go down. he took another step before he fell, it wasn't like it was a clean trip.
it's the same as the hundreds of free-kicks that get given every week when there is any sort of upper body contact and the player's legs go from under them. it lessens the game IMO and makes it easier for people to play for fouls. i'm not talking about the pires leg flick thing, it's more the ronaldo/nani style thing. it's the type of foul torres plays for every time and gets about 50% of them, he shouldn't get any in fact, which would then force him to play for the ball instead. it's like a bit of hussle, an arm or shoulder trying to get in front of him is a foul. it's not.
diving or simulation or whatever isn't black or white, a player who gets a touch and then does a blatant dive is no better IMO than one who isn't touched and goes down. their motives are the same, they are trying to simulate something and gain an advantage by it. for me this is what berbatov did. i don't blame him, he knows that he's got a good chance of getting a pen if he goes down, but if he knew he didn't have a chance of getting a pen (cos it shouldn't be), then he'd stay on his feet.
sadly, things are too far gone with that culture at high level football for it to be any other way, which means that fans will have to suffer soft pens and free-kicks more and more.
This will wreck domestic leagues. The bait and switch from a used rubbish salesman. All the leagues will lose lots of money. I think it will wreck leagues for two seasons.
