In Lehmann's terms

Thierry Henry consoles Jens Lehmann. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Getty

He is being hailed this morning as a tragic figure who might just have stepped from a Wagnerian opera. The German papers today expressed their sympathy with Jens Lehmann, whose "moment of madness" in the Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona led to him being sent off in the 18th minute, ultimately leading to Arsenal's 2-1 defeat.

The papers all agree that Lehmann deserved to be punished after plucking at the boot of Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o. But there was criticism also in Germany of the Norwegian referee's decision to give Lehmann the red card. "The cleverest decision of referee Terje Hauge would have been to give the advantage and allow the goal for Barcelona - and to have warned Lehmann, the German number one," the Berliner Zeitung wrote this morning. It added that Lehmann's sending off "decimated" his team, a fate that Arsenal had not really "deserved".