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Frustrated Emery says referee favoured Real Madrid

Cape Town - Paris Saint-Germain manager Unai Emery cut a frustrated figure after the 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid on Wednesday, due to what he saw as biased officiating.

Adrien Rabiot opened the scoring for the Parisians in the 33rd minute of their last-16 first-leg clash at the Santiago Bernabeu, but on the stroke of half-time a seemingly soft penalty decision went against PSG for Giovani Di Celso's handball, which gave Cristiano Ronaldo the chance to make it 1-1 from the spot.

Ronaldo completed his brace in the 83rd minute, after an apparent foul from the 33-year-old in the build-up to the goal, which also followed a handball from Sergio Ramos in the box that wasn't spotted. Marcelo capped off the win for the hosts with a third goal in the 86th minute.

"His tendency was to whistle more in favour of Real Madrid," Emery stated after the game, according to The Independent.

"We saw that in the cards, the fouls and the penalty. You can give it. It wasn’t [a penalty] for me. The handball for Ramos I did not see but they say it was a handball and a penalty. It’s not the same criteria.

"The team played a good match with a bad result. It’s a 3-1 but that does not reflect what was seen on the pitch. With different refereeing, it would have been a different result.

"It’s not one player or the ref. We all play a part. There were decisions that clearly damaged us. They scored when we were at our best."

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