Valencia coach Unai Emery was scathing in his criticism of match referee Florian Meyer and his match officials after they failed to award a clear penalty in their aggregate Europa League defeat to Atletico Madrid.
With the second leg scoreless Nikola Zigic was hauled to the ground by Juanito in the latter stages of the game but no penalty was given and los Colchoneros held on to progress on away goals.
"The whole world has seen it. The TV does not lie. And on top of that in this competition there is an [assistant] referee behind the goal. In addition there is a hand that blocks the path of the ball and that is also a penalty," he told a press conference after the game.
"The problem is not that the mistake is made on purpose, it's that they don't have the character and they cannot referee in such strong an atmosphere. We leave very hurt, they've not given a penalty near the end of the game."
Despite exiting the competition Emery was full of praise for the efforts of his team and declared that match officials seeking fair play should look at themselves first before demanding fair play from teams.
"We have been smart and have managed to overcome the absences. I do not detract from the Atletico, but we were better overall. We have a great game. We have been smart and mature. We knew we could not score and we did all that despite the casualties and a couple of mistakes. In the end we had chances: [David] Villa, Vicente and the penalty to Zigic but referees failed us. They ask for fair play in the mornings of games, they should control themselves first and then after we will control ourselves," he remarked before continuing his criticism of the officials and wishing Atletico luck for the remainder of the competition.
"The players are outraged. We're very hurt. The red card for Jose Antonio] Reyes [for a high foot on Jordi Alba] in the first half and then the penalty. When I see it on TV , the referee should drop his head in shame. I congratulate Atletico, I want them to win this competition."
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