Atalanta coach: The referee ruined the match

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini has expressed outrage at the general reference to his side’s 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League, accusing the German referee of ruining the game with the early dismissal of Remo Freuler.

Freuler was sent off in the 17th minute for a foul on Ferland Mendy, who secured the victory for Madrid with a goal in the final moments of the match in Bergamo.

The German referee assessed the case as a pure scoring opportunity, even though Mendy seemed to be going sideways and preparing for the cross. Moreover Freuler was not the last player when he knocked down the Frenchman.

Madrid will host Atalanta in Spain with the advantage of the goal as a guest for a place in the quarterfinals, but Gasperini feels that the match was ruined by the referee.

“The match was ruined by the referee. Last season, after a lot of chaos, the rule of touching the ball by hand was chosen. Now there are attempts to remove any contact in football and this is suicide for the sport”, said Gasperini.

“We feel sad that we were not able to play the match we were expecting to play. I do not know what the result would be, but the match was completely ruined by an excessive trial of an incident,” he added.