Report: UEFA Admit Referee Aided Barcelona in 6-1 Win Over PSG in Champions League | OneFootball

It took three years but UEFA has reportedly admitted that referee Deniz Aytekin played a major role in FC Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain when the two teams met in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 on March 8, 2017.

On Friday, journalist Bolarinwa Olajide tweeted the news, and the timing of the announcement, Friday on the eve of the Bundesliga returning, is very curious. It’s almost like they wanted to bury the admittance and keep it out of the news cycle.

UEFA’s Disciplinary Committee statement (via Onze Mondial) recognized that referee Deniz Aytekin “failed in the exercise of his functions during this meeting” and he could face further penalties while the outcome of the match will not change, unfortunately.

Anyone who watched that match would admit that Aytekin absolutely favored one side and several of his decisions aided Barcelona in overturning a 4-0 deficit from the first leg of the tie against PSG and going on to the historic comeback.

Aytekin’s performance was so poor that night that UEFA considered a demotion and PSG lodged a formal complaint with the governing body outlining all of the mistakes that the referee made that ultimately cost them a chance to advance to the quarter-finals.

PSG’s manager at the time, Unai Emery, has since accused Barcelona players of deceiving Aytekin and that PSG would have advanced if Video Assistant Referee (VAR) existed at the time.

Unless UEFA is prepared to cut PSG a check for lost revenue or ban Barcelona for a year from the Champions League, the admittance doesn’t really matter much now.

We all know Barcelona wasn’t the better team over the two legs in 2017 no matter what their fans say. At least now, PSG supporters have some ammunition to use when the anniversary of the 6-1 loss comes around.

There’s still a chance Barcelona and PSG could meet in this season’s edition of the Champions League. PSG reached the quarter-finals after defeating Borussia Dortmund while the Catalan club still has to get past Napoli in the Round of 16 after a 1-1 draw in the first leg.

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