Paris St Germain have written a formal letter to UEFA complaining about the performance of referee Deniz Aytekin during their 6-1 defeat to Barcelona last week.
Like Bobby Madden in the Glasgow derby on Sunday, the vast majority of mistakes went in one direction as Barcelona turned around a 4-0 defeat in the first leg to reach the last eight of the Champions League.
While the victory was achieved in thrilling circumstances there did seem to be too many decisions going the way of the home side for it to be put down to one of those things.
Reporting on the letter ESPN state: “While accepting their defeat over the two legs, PSG’s document is said to list Luis Suarez’s alleged dive for a second penalty and Javier Mascherano’s foul on Angel Di Maria — which the former later admitted to — as two of the main concerns.
“A penalty not given for Mascherano’s first-half handball, Gerard Pique not receiving a second yellow card, Thomas Meunier’s foul on Neymar for Lionel Messi’s goal from the penalty spot and a Neymar foul on Marquinhos have also been included.”
An online petition to have the match replayed is a non-starter but sanctions against Aytekin is probably the best that PSG can hope for.
Once referees realise that their future appointments are dependent on applying the laws of the game fairly they’ll be less lightly to be swayed by outside factors.
Despite Steven McLean’s horrendous performance in the 2015 Scottish Cup semi-final between Celtic and Inverness Caley Thistle he was rewarded by refereeing the 2016 Scottish Cup Final.