Former top referees Dick Jol and Mario van der Ende take it in The Telegraph for Björn Kuipers. The Dutch referee was accused by players of Paris Saint-Germain of calling them names against Manchester City during the semi-final of the Champions League. “They try to vent their frustrations on the referee, but maybe they can take a look in the mirror at PSG, because they have behaved really scandalous,” said Jol.
Manchester City qualified for the Champions League final on Tuesday evening at the expense of PSG. Afterwards, the players of the French top club expressed strong criticism of Kuipers, who had handed out a red card to Ángel Di María. According to Ander Herrera, Kuipers said to Leandro Paredes ‘fuck off’, while the leader would have said ‘fuck you’ to Marco Verratti. PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino indicated that UEFA should take action. “If this is true, then UEFA may have to investigate. I believe what my players have told me. ”
“If he had already said it, I don’t think it is so earth-shattering,” says Van der Ende in the newspaper. According to the former referee, there are so many calls on the field. “What do you think players are saying? The yardstick for me is: would they have made a point of it if they had not lost 2-0, but won 1-3? I predict: then they would have left the field cheering and you would never have heard of this. This is just a way for PSG to respond to the referee’s frustrations about the elimination. ”
According to Van der Ende, Kuipers has been mild for PSG. He thinks the referee should have given red to Presnel Kimbempe and Danilo. Jol also thinks that the two players from PSG should have been sent away as punishment for their hard fouls in the second half. Kuipers may have thought after the red card for Di Maria: Let me keep things fairly intact, otherwise I have the puppets completely dancing. But actually I don’t like that. If you whistle at this level, you have to be ruthless. “
Van der Ende does not think that the statements of the players of PSG will lead to an investigation into Kuipers. “Maybe UEFA will say to Björn ‘watch out from now on what you shout’, but I don’t expect this to have major consequences. If I were UEFA, I would rather say something about those two red cards he keeps in his pocket, because these kinds of actions have no place on the football field. As a referee you have to act hard against that. ” Manchester City won the semi-final 2-0, while the game in Paris ended in a 1-2 win. In the final, Pep Guardiola’s team will take on Chelsea, which settled with Real Madrid in two duels.