Tuesday night at the San Siro, Inter defeated Barcelona 4-3 (7-6 on aggregate) in the Champions League semi-finals.
After Barcelona’s players and staff were unhappy with several of the calls made during their Champions League semi-final loss to Inter on Tuesday (May 6), a former FIFA referee defended referee Szymon Marciniak.
Despite Barcelona’s strong offensive performance, their Italian opponents managed to score four goals, sending Inter to the Munich final later this month with a 4-3 (7-6 on aggregate) victory.
After the game, Barca midfielder Pedri expressed his displeasure with several of Marciniak’s actions 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 the media.
“Every 50-50 for them… There are things that I don’t understand and which are hard to explain.” In response to questions about the specific incidents, he clarified: “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 been to Inter’s stadium three times, and extraneous things always happen that don’t go our way,” said Barca defender Eric Garcia. “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,” said Barca head coach Hansi Flick.
“In order to win the Champions League, we start over next season. One of our objectives is this.
“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.”
Former FIFA match official Rafał Rostkowski has now shared his thoughts on Marciniak’s performance and placed the blame on Dennis Higler, the Dutch VAR referee.
“Szymon Marciniak was right to award a penalty, but the VAR referee dissuaded him from doing so,” Rostkowski told SPORT in reference to the withdrawn penalty.
The Dutchman committed two errors. First of all, by failing to consider what transpired in the penalty area, he made a mistake in determining the foul’s location.
He had the opportunity to call Marciniak to the monitor, but he misjudged the event because there was something to interpret in this case. He ought to have called the primary referee to the monitor and shown him the full episode, or he ought to have refrained from interfering altogether. Then, with the whole picture at his disposal, Marciniak would have evaluated the matter himself.
