This Wednesday evening, Olympique de Marseille had the opportunity to confirm their current excellent form in the Champions League against Sporting . After their big victory against Ajax Amsterdam (4-0), the Marseillais hoped to take three points against a team that was, on paper, well within their reach. And everything had started well with the opening goal from winger Igor Paixao. The Brazilian rewarded his team's excellent start. But the match completely changed just before half-time after Emerson was sent off for simulation.
The Italian left-back, already booked a yellow card a few minutes earlier for a handball, was caught by the VAR. The penalty whistled by the match referee was ultimately transformed into a yellow card for simulation and therefore a red card. A play that completely changed the outcome of the match, because after returning from the locker room, after suffering for long minutes, OM conceded an early goal from Catamo. And at the end of the match, the hammer blow: Alisson Santos' shot, blocked with his hand by Pavard, ended up lobbing Rulli (1-2). A cruel defeat that angered the Marseille players after the match.
Aubameyang blasts referee
Speaking to Canal +, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang attacked the refereeing decisions. "It's definitely complicated when you make things difficult. The referees weren't up to scratch tonight. In the first half, Sporting didn't create any problems; on the contrary, we were pretty good, but Emerson's first yellow card was scandalous: he couldn't do anything with his hand. In the second half, we played deeper with a man down, they pushed and scored. The referee? We're not allowed to talk to him because only the captains can talk. It's scandalous to have a referee like that in the Champions League, but anyway... It's penalizing us because we played a good game. I'm very angry tonight, but hey, we're thinking about the league and moving forward." "I don't think we're in the right place with 3 points, but that's how it is. We started this match well ," he said initially.
Marseille striker Igor Paixao also denounced Rade Obrenovic's decision. "It's difficult, we knew it would be difficult in Lisbon. I don't want to talk about refereeing, but he missed Emerson's first card, it wasn't a yellow card, because there was no intention. But it went through. As I said, it wasn't deserved, it hit his hand, he couldn't remove it. We shouldn't just talk about the referee, but he has to realize what he did today." This observation is necessarily in the heat of the moment after a defeat that leaves OM in 18th place in the Champions League standings with 3 points. They will have to bounce back against Atalanta on the next matchday to avoid losing too much time in the race for qualification.
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