If Barcelona’s stellar display – inspired by a resilient Neymar – against PSG was the beautiful side to the Blaugrana’s epic comeback, Deniz Aytekin’s performance as match official was the unflattering face of the 6-1 win.
The Catalan giants scored three goals in the last seven minutes to knock out the Ligue 1 giants from the Champions League. This appeared almost impossible, given that Les Parisiens boasted a 4-0 advantage from the first-leg.
However, two debatable penalties smeared the game in controversy. First, Neymar was brought down by a Thomas Meunier slip. Then, Luis Suarez earned the hosts another spot-kick after a tussle with Marquinhos.
Aytekin has endured a torrid time since the final whistle. He has been likened to Tom Ovrebo, the unpopular referee from Barcelona’s controversial win over Chelsea in 2009. Now, Marca claim Deniz is facing a UEFA demotion.
UEFA’s head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina will either demote Aytekin to lesser-profile games, or suspend him from officiating in the Champions League for a specific time. This gives rise to the question: does the Barca vs. PSG referee deserve punishment.
We believe the rumored suspension to be futile and thus unnecessary, and for one reason: referees are human beings – no amount of training or experience will save match officials from making a wrong call in a tense, heated game. Throw in the fact that players nowadays try to cheat officials into awarding penalties, free-kicks, and red cards; the challenges facing perfect officiating is at an ultimate high.
A replay of the game was never possible. Chelsea faced worse injustice in their semi-final clash with the Blaugrana and had to wait three more years to reach a Champions League final. The real disappointment is in the lack of Video Assistant Referee.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino touched upon this issue in the wake of the 6-1 win. Although he backed referees, he admitted that VAR is needed to ensure games are no longer remembered for refereeing mistakes.
Until then, match officials will be thrown into the line of fire to make quick decision in unfriendly situations with nothing but the human eye as their weapon. Expect mistakes to persist.
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