Greek referee Anastasios Sidiropoulos has come under fire from besieged Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger following the Gunners’ humiliating 5-1 midweek loss at home to Bayern Munich in their second leg Rd of 16 Champions League match.
Arsenal scored first in the second leg, through a first half Theo Walcott goal, but then had a call for a penalty denied before conceding a second half penalty and having defender Laurent Koscielny sent off. A ten-man Arsenal subsequently imploded losing 5-1 and 10-2 on aggregate: the biggest aggregate defeat by an English team in the Champions League.
Wenger commented after the match, “It leaves me very angry, very frustrated. And I think at the moment, because we are in a difficult period, even more so. I think it’s absolutely inexplainable and scandalous. You look at what happened really, the guy behind the line gives a penalty and on top of that the red card.
When the ref had given a yellow, OK we have to take it on the chin: I have to stand up for it. And in the second half the referee killed the game. After that it was very difficult, but the referee I think was very, very powerful for Bayern tonight. Lewandowski, not only was it not a penalty, he was offside. And on top it was not a penalty. On top of that he gives us a red card that killed us completely.”
The manager’s comments could result in UEFA penalties for the long-serving Arsenal boss.
The experienced Sidiropoulos has officiated previous Champions League, Europa League, Euro and World Cup qualifiers.