Referee Urs Meier shows a red card to Andreas Zikos and a yellow card to Claude Makelele (not pictured). Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Last week, before the Champions League semifinal against Chelsea, Fernando Morientes was in buoyant mood.

"They are the favorites," he told me. "We are the underdogs. That suits us just fine. Real Madrid was the favorite as well. ..."

Prophetic words from the Spanish striker, given Monaco's heroic 3-1 win on Tuesday. Didier Deschamps' troops looked like worldbeaters, even when down to 10 men, following Andreas Zikos' sending off early in the second half.

The win illustrated three basic facts about the game: that physical and mental preparation are paramount, that referees -- even at this level -- make egregious mistakes and that it can be unwise for a coach to change his basic ethos.

Credit Monaco's coaching staff, including fitness guru Antonio Pintus, on the first count. Deschamps has done a magnificent job with limited personnel. Effectively, he has just a 16-man squad that -- given France's 20-team top flight, two cup competitions and long run in the Champions League -- means the club should have gone into the semifinal physically and mentally exhausted.

MAILBAG Gabriele Marcotti will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

Yet it was Monaco that looked more lucid, more determined and, frankly, fitter even when a man down.

As for the refereeing, Urs Meier was simply disastrous. In fact, he could have spoiled the game entirely. He allowed the game to boil over on more than once occasion, failing to spot Morientes kicking out at Scott Parker or the wrestling match between the very same Morientes and Marcel Desailly that ended up with the Spaniard getting a nasty elbow to the face.

But the officiating team's biggest blunder came in the incident which led to Zikos' red card. The Greek midfielder and Claude Makelele tussled for a loose ball. After it went out of play, Makelele appeared to pat Zikos on the face. It looked like a friendly -- if perhaps mocking -- gesture, but Zikos reacted by slapping the back of Makelele's head.

The former Real Madrid midfielder took a quick glance up the pitch and then threw himself to the ground. Meier bought it hook, line and sinker. Makelele's antics were shameful, but, equally, the officiating made no sense.

Zikos was sent off and Makelele got a yellow card. If Meier saw the incident, he would have known that Makelele took a dive. If he did not, the linesman, who had a relatively clear view, should have seen it. If neither the referee nor his assistant so the incident, they should not have sent Zikos off. Nor should Makelele have been booked.

Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri's night was as bad as Meier's. With the score 1-1 and Chelsea a man up, he replaced right back Mario Melchiot with striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and then took off Scott Parker (who was drafted in as an emergency right back after Melchiot went off) and sent on central defender Robert Huth.

Mailbag Question of the Week There have been rumors flying around that it's the end of Manchester United as far as the Premier League is concerned. They said the same thing two seasons ago, when new players were bought and had to get used to the conditions of the league. The same thing has happened this season, many new signings who still need to get adjusted to life at Old Trafford. What is your take on this? Do you think they are still good enough, or are Chelsea and Arsenal going to usurp Manchester United as the best EPL side ever? --Ashwin Prabhu, Bangalore, India First of all I beg to differ on the fact that Manchester United is the best English side ever (unless you limit yourself to the years since the creation of the Premiership in 1992). I think Liverpool remains the greatest English club ever (not just in terms of domestic titles, but the four European Cups as well). Beyond that, I agree that it's too early to write off United. Bringing in seven new players -- most of them very young -- while selling arguably the two most naturally gifted men (David Beckham and Juan Sebastian Veron) was never going to be painless. Louis Saha looks to be a solid signing, though I see him more as a third striker and not a long-term partner for Ruud Van Nistelrooy. Tim Howard was never as good as some hyped him up to be, but then he's not as bad as some suggest he is now. He's still young and, in time, should win his starting spot back. David Bellion, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson have been disappointing, in my opinion, while Cristiano Ronaldo is gifted but still far from the finished article. The thing to remember is that all these guys are very young and could yet go to the next level. It's also worth noting that two factors severely damaged United this season. The first was Rio Ferdinand?s long ban, which was unreasonably severe. The other was United's failure to sign Ronaldinho last summer (a negotiation conducted entirely by former chief executive Peter Kenyon, now at Chelsea). With Ferdinand and Ronaldinho on board, things could have been decidedly different this year.

While some missed the point, there was a clear logic to what Ranieri was trying to do. With the extra man and the score deadlocked, he figured it was worth putting on an extra forward to pin Monaco back and go for the win. After all, with the away-goals rule, there isn't too much difference between losing 2-1 or drawing 1-1.

The problem is that Ranieri went against his own creed as a fundamentally cautious coach who plays the percentages. (He is, after all, Italian.) Effectively, he forced his men to play with a formation they had not used all season. In one fell swoop, the cohesion and teamwork that had gotten Chelsea this far went out the window.

Compounding the problem was the fact that he simply made the wrong personnel choices. Hasselbaink is a central striker -- the wrong man to complement Hernan Crespo and Eidur Gudjohnsen up front, especially for a team that, without the injured Damien Duff and with Jesper Gronkjaer substituted at halftime (for the inneffectual Juan Sebastian Veron, another blunder) had virtually no width.

Monaco simply packed the middle, and Chelsea found no space. Adrian Mutu, one guy who could have unlocked the opposition's barricades, remained frustratingly on the bench.

But it's far from over for Chelsea. Ranieri's troops are more than capable of beating this Monaco team 2-0 or even 3-0 in the return leg. Pound for pound, Chelsea is far ahead in terms of personnel. For this to happen however, Chelsea needs to get back to basics and Ranieri needs to avoid flights of fancy.

The scoreless draw between Porto and Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday was a tense, tactical affair.

Once again, the referee made headlines for all the wrong reasons. German Markus Merk sent off Deportivo defender Jorge Andrade for nudging Deco (who happens to be a close friend of his) in the back with his leg when the Porto playmaker was sitting on the pitch after a tackle. It was pretty obvious that there was no malice -- just playfulness -- in Andrade's kick.

Deco even asked the referee not to show Andrade the red card, but Merk -- who, fittingly, happens to be a dentist and somewhat humorless to boot -- was adamant. Late in the game, Merk denied Porto a penalty when Marcos Ferreira went down after a tackle by Mauro Silva. Marcos Ferreira was booked for diving, which seemed somewhat harsh.

While the game lacked the goals and the excitement of the Monaco vs. Chelsea semifinal, it was typical of the two managers.

Jose Mourinho is arguably the best young tactician in Europe, and his side excels at shackling opponents and maximizing its own offensive chances.

Similarly, Depor boss Javier Irureta, especially away from home, likes to hit on the counterattack. With the stakes so high, it was unrealistic (and probably unfair) to expect anything but a tight, tactical battle, and in that sense it lived up to its billing.

If Andrade's red card is not overturned on appeal, it will be a big blow for Depor and it might just be enough to shift the balance of power towards Porto. Still, as Milan will testify, only a fool would go into the Riazor thinking he's halfway home.