A former FIFA referee has come to the defense of Szymon Marciniak after Barcelona’s players and staff expressed frustration over key decisions during their Champions League semi-final loss to Inter on Tuesday.
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Barcelona delivered an impressive attacking performance but struggled to contain their Italian opponents, who netted four times to secure a thrilling 4-3 victory (7-6 on aggregate) and book their place in the final in Munich later this month. ..Continue Reading
Midfielder Pedri was especially vocal in his criticism of Marciniak’s officiating, making his disappointment known after the match at the San Siro.
“It’s not the first time this has happened to us with this referee, UEFA should look into it,” Pedri told reporters.
“Every 50-50 for them … There are things that I don’t understand and which are hard to explain.”
When pressed on the specific incidents, he explained: “In the penalty on Lamine [Yamal], which was after given as a free kick, there’s no booking for [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, which would have been his second booking.”
“I have come three times to Inter’s stadium and extraneous things always happen that don’t go our way,” Barca defender Eric Garcia said.
“We all know what happened with these [referees] the last time we came here. It’s not an excuse because we have conceded seven goals, but…”
“Some decisions the referee made was maybe not on our side, but we have to accept it,” Barca head coach Hansi Flick explained.
“We start again next season to win the Champions League. This is one of our goals.
“Maybe I have said too much about the referees, so I also want to congratulate Inter, they did a great job in both games, and good luck in the final.”
Now, a former FIFA match official, Rafał Rostkowski, has given his take on Marciniak’s performance and chose to blame Dutch VAR referee, Dennis Higler.
When speaking about the withdrawn penalty, Rostkowski told SPORT: “Szymon Marciniak was right to award a penalty, but the VAR referee dissuaded him from doing so.
“The Dutchman made a double mistake. Firstly, he incorrectly determined the location of the foul because he did not take into account what happened in the penalty area.
“Secondly, he incorrectly assessed the event because there was something to interpret in this situation, which means he could have called Marciniak to the monitor. In such a situation, he should either not have intervened at all, or he should have called the main referee to the monitor and shown him the entire incident. Then Marciniak, having the full picture, would have assessed the situation himself.”
