PSG condemn Barca collapse ref in letter to UEFA

Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain have sent a letter of complaint to UEFA about the referee who oversaw their spectacular collapse to Barcelona, accusing him of ruining their Champions League campaign. 

The Spanish champions’ historic win was overshadowed by a series of controversial calls from German referee Deniz Aytekin and he awarded them two penalties on the way to a 6-1 hammering last week to surge into the quarter-finals.

A source with knowledge of the letter confirmed Tuesday media reports about the dossier sent to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin; UEFA said that it had received a letter from PSG, giving no details of its content.

The source told AFP that the letter was designed to “point out a series of errors” and “errors of judgement” by Aytekin.

Under-pressure PSG coach Unai Emery said in the aftermath of Barcelona’s miracle revival from a 4-0 first-leg deficit: “We had chances to make it 3-2 and then the refereeing decisions, I don’t know if they were right or not, but for sure they damaged us.” 

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi was less forgiving.

“The outcome of the match could have been different with more clear-sighted officiating,” he told Le Parisien newspaper at the weekend.

“Everyone saw that Angel Di Maria should have had a penalty that would have made the score 2-3 and kill any suspense. Not to mention that there was no penalty on (Luis) Suarez late in the game (which was awarded).”