In the blue Sport studio, refereeing expert Urs Meier criticizes the referees in the semi-final first leg between Arsenal and PSG and explains why both sides should have been awarded a penalty.
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- Paris Saint-Germain win the semi-final first leg away to Arsenal 1-0 and go into next week's second leg with a narrow lead.
- In the blue Sport Studio, Urs Meier is annoyed by two decisions made by the refereeing team and makes it clear: both Arsenal and PSG should have been awarded a penalty.
Urs Meier is annoyed by two controversial decisions by referee Slavko Vinčić and his team in the Champions League semi-final first leg between Arsenal and PSG. For the refereeing expert, there were even two wrong decisions.
Firstly, Meier scrutinized a scene in the 16th minute. The lively Khvicha Kvaratskhelia moves with great speed into Arsenal's penalty area, where he is stopped by Timber and goes to ground. However, referee Vinčić's whistle remained silent.
"If that's not a foul, when is it?"
Meier sees the scene differently: "It's a clear hold. It's only against the man and the arm is outstretched. If you look in the rule book for what holding is, that's it. A clear foul." The VAR should have intervened in this scene, says Meier and asks himself: "If you don't whistle for that, what else do you want to whistle for?"
Studio guests Mladen Petric and Alain Sutter are of the same opinion. "If that's not a foul, then when is it?" Sutter agrees with the refereeing expert.
A good 20 minutes later, there is a tricky scene in the other penalty area. After a duel with João Neves, Arsenal's Mikel Merino goes to ground. Here too, referee Vinčić decides against awarding a penalty - to Meier's incomprehension: "That's not a clean move either. Neves hits the Arsenal player's leg first and only gets the ball with the second contact. The first contact is the hit on the opponent. That would also be a foul."
