Paris Saint-Germain owner Nasser Al Khelaifi has heavily criticised the performance of the referee during the 3-1 loss to Real Madrid.
Gianluca Rocchi, the official at the Bernabeu, was slammed by TV pundit Michael Owen for not sending off Neymar for a second bookable offence after he was adjudged to have dived.
But instead of believing the referee acted leniently towards his side, a furious Al Khelaifi hit out at Rocchi, claiming his decision-making helped Los Blancos turn the tie around.
Paris Saint-Germain owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi has slammed the referee’s performance
Gianluca Rocchi had to make calls on penalties and cards during the match in Madrid
‘The result was not just,’ the PSG owner told BeIn Sports. ‘I think we played better in the second half, we had our chances to score, but we made mistakes.
‘(Kylian) Mbappe was called offside by an offside game that was not. The referee’s mistakes cost us. The referee has helped Madrid.’
There were a couple of contentious issues at which the Parisians feel aggrieved. Firstly, Giovani Lo Celso’s challenge on Toni Kroos which brought about the first penalty.
Then Adrien Rabiot, the scorer of PSG’s goal, struck a shot which appeared to cannon into Sergio Ramos’s arm – but a penalty was not awarded.
Boss Unai Emery also claimed there was an imbalance in how the game was officiated
And Unai Emery, manager of the Ligue 1 giants, also claimed there was an imbalance when it came to how the game was officiated.
‘He has made decisions that have clearly harmed us,’ Emery told BeIn Sports.
‘He repeatedly give decisions to Real Madrid, we saw it in the cards and fouls. The penalty is not clear and the hand of Ramos tell me that it is not a penalty. The criteria was not the same.’
