Stefano Braschi, the Italian who refereed Manchester United's 3-3 draw with Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday, lists cycling and gardening as his spare-time occupations.
It would not be surprising to learn that he thinks nothing of pedalling the wrong way along the autostrada or keeps an allotment in that part of Sicily where it pays not to dig too deep.
Signore Braschi's judgment may be open to question but surely no one would doubt the courage of a man prepared not only to award two penalties against United at Old Trafford but to send off one of their players, Nicky Butt. Of course United have given away penalties there before, and indeed lost to one from Alessandro Del Piero when Juventus beat them 1-0 two years ago, but Wednesday's turn of events was something special.
Alex Ferguson did not see it quite that way. Far from praising the referee's moral fibre the United manager condemned the official's performance in sufficiently strong terms to risk a rebuke from UEFA headquarters.
Certainly some of the evening's decisions were bizarre but, if anything, Barcelona had the greater cause for complaint. For, although United felt that Rivaldo went down a little too easily for the first penalty, when Jaap Stam challenged him from behind, and that Butt did not intentionally handle Sonny Anderson's shot when the second was awarded, their opponents had already had a perfectly valid goal ruled out for a non-existent offside.
Even as Butt trudged off, having been shown the red card for preventing a goal through use of the hand, the referee's decision prompted yet another debate. Despite Butt's intervention, accidental or otherwise, the ball still ended up in the United net and Braschi would have been within his rights to give a goal and ignore the penalty.
In that case would Butt have been sent off? And if Luis Enrique had missed the penalty, or Peter Schmeichel had saved it, which team would have been the injured party? This, after all, was the goal that earned Barcelona their draw.
All hypothesis aside, the reality of Wednesday night was that Ferguson's team played the first half in top gear and the second in neutral. To some extent it was Galatasaray all over again.
Five years ago United had taken an early 2-0 lead against the Turkish champions at home but still needed a late goal from Eric Cantona to force a 3-3 draw. The Istanbul club were still at it on Wednesday, holding Juventus to 2-2 in Turin having led 2-1.
The contrast between United's almost complete domination of Barcelona in the first half and their pedestrian second left Ferguson as perplexed as the Old Trafford crowd. Until half-time Ryan Giggs and David Beckham ruled the wings but thereafter Barcelona reduced their opponents' movements to a few feeble flutters punctuated only by the free-kick from Beckham which briefly restored United's lead at 3-2.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of the penalties, United were struggling once Anderson responded early in the second half to the goals Giggs and Paul Scholes had scored in the first.
Barcelona opted to step out of defence and step up the tempo, and the increasing ease with which Anderson and his fellow Brazilian Rivaldo found attacking space might well have brought them a famous victory.
