Barcelona’s epic comeback win over Paris Saint-Germain should be replayed claims petition which has gathered over 200,000 signatures.
An online petition calling for Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League to be replayed has gained over 200,000 signatures.
The victory on Wednesday at the Nou Camp carried Barcelona through to the quarter-finals 6-5 on aggregate, with Sergi Roberto scoring the clinching goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Real Madrid supporter Luis Melendo Olmedo began the petition on Friday, citing a string of what he felt were mistakes by referee Deniz Aytekin, and by Sunday afternoon the number of backers for his campaign had reached six figures.
The petition on change.org states: ‘I want to request a replaying of the Barcelona-PSG match.’
It then lists the reason as being: ‘Incidents that seriously damaged PSG. As a consequence of the refereeing of the German Deniz Aytekin who benefited Barcelona with his actions and his refereeing.
‘That is why I question the aptitude of the referee for his serious mistakes made during the match. I present evidence to anyone who wants to see them.’
The petition then lists a succession of incidents that its founder considers Aytekin to have got wrong, beginning with Barcelona’s opening goal through Luis Suarez, which it says should have been disallowed for offside.
Despite the numbers responding to the petition, the absence of any such appeal from PSG, who have accepted the result, means there is no prospect of UEFA ordering an unprecedented replay.
Barcelona’s opener through Luis Suarez should have been disallowed, says the petition
FIFA president Gianni Infantino spoke about the match on Friday and said football’s law makers should be careful with adjusting the rules.
Infantino added that video assistant referees (VARs) will in future ensure ‘clear mistakes’ will be corrected, although the Swiss refused to comment on the controversial penalty award for a foul on Luis Suarez which resulted in Barcelona’s fifth goal.
It was reported by Spanish newspaper Marca on Thursday that Aytekin could be sidelined by UEFA for the rest of this season’s Champions League after the scrutiny of his decisions.
Source: dailymail
