Lyon fume against ‘catastrophic’ refereeing in PSG defeat | OneFootball

Just as it was 24 hours earlier during RC Lens’ 4-1 win over AS Monaco, refereeing was once again in the spotlight when Olympique Lyonnais faced Paris Saint-Germain. 

Lyon’s 3-2 defeat to PSG was littered with controversy right until the end. OL were left frustrated by four big decisions, all of which went against them. There was the Khvicha Kvaratskhelia goal, where OL believed that Vitinha had fouled Tanner Tessmann in the build-up. Les Gones also complained about a penalty not given when Lee Kang-in tussled with Nicolas Tagliafico inside the PSG box, and again for another unawarded penalty when the ball glanced Ilia Zabarnyi’s hand. 

Then came late controversy when Tagliafico was harshly sent off in second-half injury-time. Seconds later, PSG scored a late winner. “Not easy 11 against 12,” reacted former Lyon captain Alexandre Lacazette on social media. 

OL assistant manager Jorge Maciel went even further. “PSG are the best team in Europe, they don’t need 16 players on the pitch and I’m not even counting the VAR,” he told Ligue 1 Plus. 

Meanwhile, in an official press release, technical director Matthieu Louis-Jean said that there was “frustration” at what he perceived to be “big refereeing errors” and an “incoherence” in decisions being taken. He added, “Mr Bastien’s refereeing was catastrophic. I didn’t see him after the match, but in any case, he won’t say anything. He never says anything.”

It is another Ligue 1 gameweek in which refereeing is spotlighted as much, if not more than, the action on the pitch. 

GFFN | Luke Entwistle