TheCable

Marco Verrati, Paris Saint-Germain FC midfielder, has claimed that the referee swore at him during UEFA Champions League (UCL) semi-final defeat to Manchester City.

The Italian’s claim was backed by Ander Herrera, a teammate, who also alleged that he overheard Bjorn Kuipers, the match official, swearing at Leandro Paredes, their colleague.

PSG lost 2-0 at the Etihad on Tuesday — a defeat that ended the hunt for their maiden UCL title. It also ended 4-1 on aggregate as the French side was unambiguously outclassed by the English club.

Riyad Mahrez’s double was crucial enough to disorient the Mauricio Pochettino-side who sorely missed Kylian Mbappe.

PSG players lost their cool too easily in the fixture and it resulted in the sending off of Angel Di Maria for a retaliatory stump on the foot of Fenandinho, City captain. Scenes after scenes of PSG players in heated arguments with the referee were seen all through the game.

Speaking with Sky in Italy, Verratti said: “I think the best thing to do is to take a good look at each other, we were in the race until Di Maria was sent off. At that point we needed a miracle.

“The only thing I don’t like is when the referee tells you to “f*** off”, we always try to be respectful, but he did that three or four times during the game.

“He started giving yellow cards here and there and we became a little nervous. It’s not his fault. Manchester City deserve to qualify, they have great players. We could have done more in the first leg.”

According to Guardian UK, Herrera told RMC Sport, a French multimedia outlet, that the referee did the same to Paredes, while demanding officials reciprocate respect.

“We talk about respect with referees – the referee tonight said f*** off to Leandro Paredes, If we say that we get a three- or four-match ban,” Herrera was quoted as saying.

On his part, Pochettino, PSG manager, urged UEFA to look into these complaints and deal accordingly.

“I didn’t hear anything from the touchline,” he said. “If something is there and is how they explained, maybe Uefa will investigate the situation. But now that’s not an excuse I can put in front of you … the most important thing is we’re not in the final and that’s why we feel really sad,” the Argentine said.