After PSG’s 3-1 loss to Nantes in Ligue 1 on Saturday afternoon, midfielder Marco Verratti alleges the referee’sh*tted on’ his team.
At the Beaujoire Stadium, the French giants found themselves 3-0 down at half-time, with goals from Randal Kolo Muani, Quentin Merlin, and Ludovic Blas securing the victory for the hosts.
On 47 minutes, Neymar equalized for the visitors after missing a penalty. But Verratti was not pleased that Nantes’ Dennis Appiah escaped a red card for a tackle on Kylian Mbappe.
Verratti, 29, was enraged by the refereeing standard and believes the home team should have been dropped to ten men.
‘After the final whistle, the referee should have given [Dennis] Appiah the second yellow for the foul he made [on Mbappe],’ Verratti said. ‘How can I refuse to give him the yellow?’ The officials slapped us around!’
At the end of the first half, Appiah received a red card for tripping Mbappe as the forward was on his way to goal.
VAR, however, ruled that the challenge was not deserving of a red card and overturned the verdict, concluding that the defender had not purposefully denied Mbappe a goal-scoring opportunity.
PSG director Leonardo was also dissatisfied with the officials’ choices after Appiah was given a yellow card for another tackle on Mbappe that went unpunished.
‘The referee should have had more control.’ We risk having players unavailable for three months because of the fouls committed, like as the foul on Kylian,’ he said.
‘There’s also the fact that in the first half, we declared one minute of extra time, and the penalty is called at the 49th minute!
‘I’m not here to cry,’ she says. Losing is justified, but there is a strong urge to whistle against us. It’s humiliating.’ Pochettino has been certain that the referee was not to fault for his side’s 3-1 loss since the setback.
He explained, “We had our first attack through Juan Bernat, but they scored on the very next play.” ‘We then conceded twice in injury time in the first half.’ We played well on offense, but we couldn’t handle the defensive transitions against Nantes’ quick players. There were numerous errors.
‘You have to keep things separate.’ The referee did not cause us to lose the game. I understand my players’ and sporting director’s frustrations. You’d have to go back and look at the game, but that doesn’t mean it’s the reason we lost.’
PSG now leads Ligue 1 by 13 points over second-placed Marseille, and their next league encounter is against Saint-Etienne.