Following their elimination in the round of 16 of the Champions League against Dortmund, Lille president Olivier Létang criticized Swiss referee Sandro Schärer - and alluded to his origins.
Despite leading 1-0 at half-time, Lille failed to reach the Champions League quarter-finals at home against Dortmund for the first time in their history.
"Few people who saw the draw could have imagined that we would be disappointed if we were eliminated in the round of 16. But yes, there was a lot of disappointment tonight," said Lille president Olivier Létang.
One situation in particular caused a lot of discussion after the game: The penalty awarded to the Ruhr side after a foul by Thomas Meunier on Serhou Guirassy allowed Emre Can to equalize in the 54th minute to make it 1-1.
Létang: Schärer spoke to BVB players during the break
"It wasn't a penalty for me," emphasized Létang. "That changes the course of the game decisively. But I also think that we could have avoided this situation if we had done the right thing in the first twenty minutes of the second half."
The 52-year-old Lille boss questioned the nomination of Swiss referee Sandro Schärer for this match: "When the referee was appointed and I saw that he was Swiss-German, I thought that was pretty special," said Létang, adding: "And during the half-time break, he spoke to the Dortmund players exclusively in German."
Lille coach Bruno Genesio also described the penalty decision as "very harsh" and "decisive". However, the coach of the Northern French side conceded that "Dortmund were better in the second half".