10 Most controversial football matches of the last decade

#7 Portugal 1-0 Netherlands: 2006 World Cup

With the amount of bitterness that marred this game, it is difficult and unfitting to define it as a match. Perhaps that is why this encounter has been aptly dubbed as the Battle of Nuremburg.

Portugal and Netherlands played out one of the most disgraceful games in World Cup history which saw a record number of red and yellow cards. The round-of-16 clash was overpowered by brutal tackles and senseless fouls.

What made even lesser sense was the fact that the referee's decisions, although consistent, lacked substance as he had lost the power to determine the difference between a red card and a yellow card offence.

Players were exposed to physical confrontations throughout the game and referee Valentin Ivanov issued 4 red cards and 16 yellow cards on the night and the game ended 1-0 in favour of the Portuguese. President Sepp Blatter even stated that the referee himself could have been yellow carded.