Barcelona lost 4-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals and bid farewell to the tournament in bitter fashion.
Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs sent off Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo in the 29th minute after interfering with Barcola, while the score indicated that Barca was ahead 1-0.
The red card cost Barcelona the loss of the match, as the Catalan team was unable to keep up with the attack of Paris Saint-Germain, which then pressed with all its strength and managed to score 4 goals.
In its analysis of the course of the match, the newspaper Marca published the opinion of the refereeing expert it used, Pavel Fernandez: “If Kovac calls the foul, then Araujo should indeed be sent off because he was the last player. But the question is, was it a mistake in the first place? The Uruguayan player only put his arm on Barcola’s shoulder, and for me this is not a foul that requires a whistle.”
The surprise revealed by Marca is that the game was not a mistake in the first place and that the debate is not over the validity of the expulsion decision or not.