Craig Thomson was at the centre of a Champions League storm last night as nine man Besiktas crashed to a 6-0 away to Dinamo Kiev.
It was the Ukranian team’s first win in the competition with disastrous consequences for the Turkish side as Napoli and Benfica qualified for the last 16 from Group B.
The whole match turned in the 29th minute when Kiev were awarded a controversial penalty with Andreas Beck sent off for a fairly innocent clash with Derlis Gonzalez.
Awarding a penalty seemed very harsh but the Turks were shocked when Thomson produced a red card leaving Besiktas to overcome a 2-0 deficit reduced to ten men.
The red card seemed to be completely at odds with the summer rule change but for reasons best known to himself Thomson ordered Beck off despite any contact appearing to be accidental.
Go to nine minutes for penalty incident
Thomson has been at the centre of a number of storms this season and was summoned by the SFA to explain his refusal to co-operate with BT Sport at a St Johnstone v Celtic match that resulted in the broadcaster losing advertising.
At Hampden in October Thomson disallowed a perfectly good headed ‘goal’ from Erik Sviatchenko against Sevco, on Friday he’ll be in charge of Celtic’s trip to Partick Thistle
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Here’s the Besiktas goalie tonight proving that Craig Thomson refereeing your games can make you cry. pic.twitter.com/zTq49zuu2K
— Jim Douglas (@jimdou77) December 6, 2016
Ex-Italian ref Graziano Cesari: “Referee Craig Thomson is always disastrous.” #Besiktas #UCL #SPL
— footballitalia (@footballitalia) December 6, 2016
Craig Thomson, Scottish referee, and his assistants should be investigated for match fixing#UCL @ChampionsLeague
— ?.Gunes JK (@imgunes) December 6, 2016
Craig Thomson broke the new @UEFAcom rules. That was not a red card under the new rules (it wasn’t even a foul to begin with) #Be?ikta?
— Turkish Football (@Turkish_Futbol1) December 6, 2016
