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UEFA: No suspension for Barca-PSG referee

Reuters / Albert Gea Livepic

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has cleared match official Deniz Aytekin of any wrongdoing stemming from Barcelona's frenetic come-from-behind 6-1 Champions League victory over Paris Saint-Germain.

Speculation had linked the four-time defending Ligue 1 champ with a formal five-page letter sent to European football's governing body lamenting the German referee's performance.

After Unai Emery's side conceded four second-half goals, including a pair of penalties, several of Aytekin's decisions came into question, prompting the alleged complaint on behalf of PSG.

Ceferin isn't hearing it.

"We will not suspend the referee from that match, referees are not suspended," Ceferin told AFP.

"When something doesn't go well, we discuss it - but it is not a matter for suspension," the Slovenian administrator added. "That would be like suspending a player who missed a penalty kick when he should simply go to the bench if he misses many penalty shots."

Emery theorised that his squad "lost everything" after Barcelona was rewarded a penalty for Luis Suarez's dive and PSG was denied a handball and clear foul in the area that culprit Javier Mascherano later conceded should have been a penalty. Those contentious calls were among many others that sparked discussion of desire for the use of Video Assistant Referees (VAR).

In December, Ceferin said UEFA had no plans to implement the technology that allows the match official to confer with an assistant on the sideline using video replay.

"For me and UEFA, it's just an experiment at the moment," Ceferin told Marca.

"It's not very clear and we don't know when we'll use it. Let's see what happens in the future, but it's not in our plans to use it."

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