UEFA warns over referee harassment

UEFA has warned all the Champions League quarterfinal teams to stop their players harassing referees, said secretary general Gianni Infantino. And Europe’s governing body does not support extending video technology to catch mistakes made by referees, he added. UEFA’s refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina warned Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Monaco, Paris Saint Germain, Porto and Real Madrid at a meeting Friday. The meeting at the UEFA headquarters at Nyon in Switzerland came the day after the ruling body banned Paris St-Germain’s Ivorian defender Serge Aurier for three European matches for “insulting acts” toward the referee of the Champions League match against Chelsea. Aurier did not play in the March 11 match which ended in a 2-2 draw, but made disparaging comments on Facebook about referee Bjorn Kuipers over his dismissal of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. UEFA is concerned about the growing tendency of groups of players to surround referees after every controversial call. Infantino slammed what he called the “aggressive stance” of some players toward referees. “This is something that we don’t accept, that we cannot accept and we are very clear about that,” he said. “We also have to protect the referees and respect the referees”, added the UEFA official.

Source: UEFA