Paris Saint-Germain have penned a letter to UEFA over several of the refereeing decisions made during their Champions League clash against Barcelona last week.
The day after Arsenal lost 5-1 at home to Bayern Munich, Barcelona made history by overturning a 4-0 deficit to win 6-1 against PSG and go through to the next round of the Champions League.
However, the Ligue 1 club were far from impressed by officiating from referee Deniz Aytekin and have even allegedly written UEFA a letter highlighting all of his mistakes.
From a handball from Mascherano to Luis Suarez diving, PSG’s chairman Nasser Al Khelaifi has reportedly detailed over 10 errors made by the referee, which influenced the final outcome.
If this letter really has been sent, which Marca claims, it’s bound to kick up quite a fuss. Should Arsenal do the same?
Robin van Persie’s red card against Barca, Laurent Koscielny’s red card and penalty against Bayern… Arsenal have definitely had a tough time when it comes to decisions not going their way, particularly in Europe, over the years.
However, no one’s quite sure how UEFA will react to said letter. Will it actually help or, like when Arsene Wenger speaks out about referees post-match, will PSG just get fined?
What’s clear is that something needs to be done.
Although video technology is supposed to be making its way over to England with it being tested out in some Dutch cup games and during some instances in the MLS, it’s still not perfect and mistakes can happen. Without a higher standard of refereeing, video assisted refereeing won’t make officiating foolproof.