PSG midfielders Marco Verratti and Leandro Paredes were allegedly both told to ‘f*** off’ by referee Bjorn Kuipers during their Champions League semi-final defeat by Manchester City.
Tensions flared during the crucial game at the Etihad with the stakes so high, and the Ligue 1 side imploded in the second half with Angel Di Maria shown a red card for a stamp on Fernandinho, with PSG stars involved in a few stand-offs with the official.
City won 4-1 on aggregate after Mahrez scored a brace to earn a 2-0 victory on the night and sent his side through to their first ever Champions League final.
After the game Mahrez accused PSG of ‘losing their nerve’ after the red card and slammed their players for ‘kicking us’, but the French outfit incredibly claimed they were victims of a verbal attack from the man in charge of the contest.
Ander Herrera told RMC that his team-mate Paredes had been told to ‘f*** off’ by Kuipers, and complained that the players would have been hit with a lengthy ban had they said something similar to him.
‘We talk about respect with referees,’ he said. ‘The referee tonight said ‘f*** off’ to Leandro Paredes. It’s incredible. If we say that we get a three-four match ban.’
Verratti backed up the claims and insisted he too had been insulted by the official, saying: ‘He said ‘f*** you’ to me… I talk to referees a lot but I never say that or I get a 10-game ban.’
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