Champions League
Complaints to Collina about Champions League refereeing
The Italian Press has spoken out on the harsh refereeing decisions suffered by Atlético and Benfica last night, while reminding us that Juventus were also hurt by poor refereeing.
They are furious in Italy about the state of refereeing in European competition this season, with the bad decisions in the Champions League quarter-final first legs seemingly the final straw. The Italian newspaper Tuttosport put a clear message for Pierluigi Collina (considered one of the best referees ever and currently a member of the UEFA Referees Committee) on today’s front page. They asked: “Juventus, did you see what happened to Bayern? Collina’s referees gave them another gift.”
The headline refers to the fact that Juventus felt hard done by the referees Martin Atkinson and Jonas Eriksson in their Last 16 ties against the German champions. Tuttosport claims that in the first leg Pep Guardiola was influencing the referee from the sidelines and that in the second leg the officials disallowed a perfectly good Álvaro Morata goal.
The Italian newspaper doesn’t understand how a competition as prestigious as the Champions League can have referees of dubious quality and are demanding that Collina deals with the situation. “It’s either that Collina is sending out mediocre referees, or that he isn’t aware of their mediocrity.”
The Champions League quarter-final referees Felix Brych and Szymon Marciniak “massacred” Atlético Madrid and Benfica in their respective first legs. Tuttosport is in agreement with those who think that Fernando Torres’ sending off was unfair and those who think Luis Suárez should have seen red. They also echo the arguments that Philipp Lahm’s handball should have given Benfica a chance to score an away goal from the penalty spot.
In Italy, they don’t think its chance that the Juventus, Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio and Napoli (all already knocked out of Europe) have all suffered from poor refereeing this season. They offered their support to Diego Simeone, who preferred not to vent his anger after last night’s loss for fear of repercussions. The Italia media, however, did not hold back. “We understand you Cholo. But this can be explained in a few words: it’s time for Collina to stop assigning the referees.”