The Polish referee’s first comment after Barcelona’s complaint to UEFA

Barcelona attacks Polish referee Marciniak after dramatic Champions League defeat to Inter Milan

Polish referee Szymon Marciniak faced a wave of criticism from Barcelona following their 4-3 Champions League semi-final defeat to Inter Milan at the San Siro.

Marciniak, a former World Cup final referee, responded strongly to accusations that he “deprived Barcelona of a place in the final.” The Catalan press described his performance as “controversial,” and Mundo Deportivo reported that the referee had a “friendly history with Real Madrid.”

Barcelona insists that Inter Milan’s late equalizer, scored by Francesco Acerbi to force extra time, should have been disallowed after full-back Gerard Martin went down under a challenge from Denzel Dumfries.

The Spanish club also disputed the penalty awarded to Pau Coparci for his foul on Lautaro Martinez, from which Hakan Calhanoglu converted. In response to Barcelona’s anger, Marciniak told Al-Qahera News:

“What can I say about these stupid comments? I didn’t wrong anyone.”

Barcelona is reportedly preparing to file a formal complaint with UEFA, but Marciniak remained unconcerned, insisting, “I’m ready for anything.”

He also commented on Inter’s third goal, saying, “Inter’s third goal was definitely valid.”

For his part, Barcelona coach Hansi Flick said after the crushing defeat:

“I don’t want to talk too much about the referee, but every decision was in Inter’s favor. I’m disappointed. I don’t like talking about referees. I told him what I thought, but I won’t repeat it here.”

In his analysis of the match on beIN SPORTS, former Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger expressed his displeasure with the decision to award Lautaro Martinez a penalty.

He said, “It was clear that Lautaro was looking for a penalty, and in my opinion, the referee made a mistake. He should have seen who touched the ball first. It was Coparsi. For me, it was clearly not a penalty, and you can’t blow the whistle for such incidents, especially since the tackle was clean. My position is clear: I am against these decisions that spoil football.”

In his post-match comments, Barcelona midfielder Pedri called on UEFA to investigate Marciniak’s performance, saying:

“It’s not the first time this has happened to us with this referee. UEFA should look into it. All the combined balls were in their favor. There are things I don’t understand and it’s difficult to explain.”

Pedri also criticized Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s failure to receive a yellow card for his strong tackle on Lamine Yamal, adding:

“In the penalty against Lamine, which was later awarded as a free kick, Mkhitaryan was not cautioned, even though it would have led to a red card.”