Dan Burn says bizarre referee decisions had an effect on how Newcastle United played in Paris last night
As if it isn't already hard enough to go to the Parc des Princes to take on the European Champions in a huge game in the biggest club competition in the world, Newcastle United also had to contend with one of the worst referees we have ever seen.
The Slovenian official handed the hosts a penalty in the first minute after the ball bounced up off Bradley Barcola's arm and into the path of Lewis Miley's arm. Barcola's handling of the ball, albeit accidental, was ignored, and the VAR and referee focused solely on Miley's contact, which again was accidental and as a direct result of the previous handball, but still, the penalty was awarded.
Thankfully, Nick Pope was on hand to keep out Ousmane Dembele's penalty to serve up instant justice. But the referee wasn't done.
Anthony Elanga made a perfectly timed challenge to take the ball off the toes of Georgian superstar Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who then bundled into Elanga. The referee rightly awarded Newcastle a free kick, but also booked Anthony Elanga. The look on Elanga's face spoke volumes.
Dan Burn says the referee's strange decisions spurred the lads on last night
Then, to add insult to injury, Marquinhos handled the ball in the PSG box, and the referee waved away the Newcastle protests while VAR checked and passed it within seconds. It was no more or less deliberate than Lewis Miley's handball, but if you give one, you have to give the other.
Dan Burn spoke about the referee's performance after the match (via The Chronicle), and the captain said he spoke to the ref about the Marquinhos handball, going on to say the decisions spurred his team on, creating an 'us versus everyone else' mentality that caused them to raise their game.
"I asked at half-time. And to be fair the ref said he looked at it and he said did not think it was similar.
"I thought there were a few decisions that didn't go our way and went the other way. I thought we played well and we should not let this overshadow the performance we put in. We went toe to toe with the best team in the world.
"Did it spur us on? A little bit it gives you that mentality that is us against everyone else, I feel we always play our best football when we have that mentality.
"But it was a good mature performance from the lads."
Where's the consistency?
We said last night that we didn't think the Marquinhos incident was a penalty. Common sense will tell you that there was nothing he could do about that ball hitting his hand.
However, you could say exactly the same about Tino Livramento's handball two years ago in the same stadium, and of Lewis Miley's last night, and yet, PSG were awarded a penalty both times.
We are absolutely not saying that the referee last night was paid off, but maybe, perhaps, if he's ever got his banking app open, someone should take a peek over his shoulder and look for a transfer from a Qatari bank.
