A PETITION to replay Barcelona Vs Paris Saint-Germain has reached over 100,000 signatures in less than 24 hours.
The Catalans’ 6-1 victory on the night, and 6-5 win on aggregate was lauded by many as the greatest comeback of all time.
In the last six minutes of the match, Neymar scored twice and Sergi Roberto netted the
winner to cap a historic evening.
But some supporters fumed at the display of German referee Deniz Aytekin.
The author of the petition, a Spaniard called Luis Melendo Olmedo, wrote on Change.org:
“I would like to demand the repetition of the Barcelona Vs PSG match for the following reasons:
“Incidents that gravely prejudiced PSG as a result of German referee Deniz Aytekin, whose actions refereeing benefited Barcelona.”
Olmedo went on to list 13 key decisions that he believed had gone against PSG.
Most notable was Luis Suarez’s “hopeful swimming pool dive” which was awarded as a penalty in the 89th minute.
But the author of the petition also believed Gerard Pique, Neymar and Suarez should have seen red during the match.
And he pointed out the potential penalty not given to PSG for a foul Javier Mascherano later admitted he had committed on Angel Di
Maria.
Uefa head of refereeing Pierluigi Collina is reportedly considering demoting Aytekin after his display at the Nou Camp.
The German is unlikely to referee another Champions League match this season and it will be up to Collina whether to demote him
to the Europa League or exclude him from European football altogether.
