Barcelona vs Inter 2010: The Motta Red Card, the Busquets Peek and the Goal That Didn't Count

The tie

Mourinho's Inter had beaten Barcelona 3–1 at San Siro a week earlier, with Pedro's away goal the only thing Barcelona had to show for it. At Camp Nou, Barcelona needed to win by two clear goals, or by 2–0 to go through on away goals, against a team that had been built to defend a lead. The volcano in Iceland had grounded flights and Barcelona had travelled to Milan by coach; the return leg was the one they had circled.

The referee and the decision

Frank De Bleeckere, a Belgian official who had refereed at the 2006 World Cup, showed Motta a straight red card in the 28th minute. UEFA's own match report describes it precisely: Motta 'had already been booked but his use of an outstretched hand on the face of Sergio Busquets brought him a straight red card'. Shielding the ball under pressure, Motta had put an arm back into Busquets' face and neck; Busquets went down holding his eye. The image that outlived the match came a second later, when Busquets parted his fingers to look at the referee.

Inter's players called it exaggeration then and have called it that since. Javier Zanetti said that watching Busquets 'exaggerating' made Inter feel 'a great injustice had been done'. Wesley Sneijder's version has Busquets 'rolling on the ground while looking through his hands to see if Motta got a red card'. UEFA's report and the contemporary press agree that Motta's hand went to the face; whether that was excessive force, or a brushed arm turned into a red card by the reaction, is the jury's question.

The decision that went against Barcelona

Piqué scored in the 84th minute. In the second or third minute of stoppage time, Bojan Krkić put the ball in the net for a 2–0 that would have sent Barcelona through on away goals — and the referee had already whistled for a handball by Yaya Touré in the build-up, a clearance that had struck Touré's arm from close range. Al Jazeera called the decision 'harsh'. Bojan, thirteen years later, said that 'maybe if that goal had stood history would've been different'. It is the Barcelona Files' clearest example of a marginal call, against ten men, going the other way.

The law as written in 2010

Law 12 in 2009/10 made violent conduct a sending-off offence, defined in the referees' guidelines as using excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball. A hand raised to an opponent's face was treated by referees of the period as a red-card offence in practice, and De Bleeckere's decision was consistent with that norm. The dispute is about degree: the guidelines required excessive force, and Inter's argument was that Motta's arm was a shield, not a blow. On the Touré handball, the 2009/10 law still required deliberate handling; a clearance into an arm from point-blank range is the classic case for no offence.

The aftermath

At the final whistle Mourinho ran across the pitch towards Inter's supporters, Víctor Valdés tried to intercept him, and the Camp Nou ground staff turned on the sprinklers. Inter went to Madrid and beat Bayern Munich 2–0. Twelve months later Mourinho, now at Real Madrid, would cite this tie — 'the miracle of playing with ten men so long' — in the press conference that earned him a UEFA ban. The Barcelona Files record the night the protected club was eliminated by a team with ten men, and let the jury decide whether Motta's hand deserved the card that made it ten.

Cast your ruling

1. Exhibit AC

   The Hand, the Fall and the Red

   Vote on the Motta red card · 0 jurors

Play this controversy

This match is playable. Replay Camp Nou With Ten Men, 2010 — a free browser football game puts you in control as Inter from the 30th minute, against a referee whose bias level was set by the jury’s verdict on this very incident.

Sources

• UEFA — Barcelona dethroned by resilient Inter (match report)
• Al Jazeera — Inter reach Champions League final
• Inter.it — 10 unforgettable moments from Barcelona–Inter
• Sky Sports — Barcelona 1–0 Inter report
• SempreInter — Bojan on the 2010 disallowed goal (2023)
• Goal — Sneijder on Busquets

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