When Herbert Fandel awarded Sweden a penalty in the last minute of their Euro qualifier with Denmark in Copenhagen with the score on 3-3, he would have expected a hostile reception from the Danish crowd, even though his linesman had caught a Danish defender flooring a Swede in the penalty area. As Mr Fandel, who refereed the Champions League final 2 weeks ago, put his red card back in his pocket, a drunken Dane ran onto the field and attacked him and he promptly abandoned the match.
There's no doubt he was completely within his rights to abandon the match. Spectators attacking referees (or players) is the last straw and a sign that security is not up to scratch. The referee will probably have asked himself, 'Is this going to get worse.?' It could well have done, so he was right to lead the officials and players off the field and let UEFA deal with the consequences. Sweden, who would probably have won, won't suffer. They'll probably be awarded a 3-0 victory and the Danes will be in trouble.
But there's also a sneaking voice in the back of my mind that says he should have let the penalty be taken, blown for full time and ran like hell for the protection of the dressing rooms. On reflection though, that probably wouldn't be wise.
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