Leipzig fumed at Italian referee David Massa’s decision not to send Vinicius off for a humorous gesture towards Willy Orban during the Champions League round of 16 second leg (1-1) between the two teams on Wednesday.
Leipzig will retain a very bitter taste in their doubleheader against Real Madrid in the Champions League round of 16. The Germans, inexplicably wounded by a goal in the first leg (0-1 loss), are up against another referee’s decision in the return leg (1-1) on Wednesday: the moody Brazilian only to charge Willy Orban for not sending Vinicius off for a gesture, then his Received a yellow card (54th) for pushing a defender with both hands on the neck.
“Referees don’t have the guts to send off such players”
Italian referee Davide Massa ultimately decided to uphold his clearance and not send off the Brazilian… who opened the scoring ten minutes later. For the German, the Real winger didn’t have much to do on the pitch at that point. “I’ll ask you: what do you think if it had happened the other way? Would any of our players have received a red card? defender Benjamin Henrich asked DAZN. “I’ll say openly and honestly: if it had been someone else around and one of our players had gone to Real Attacking a Madrid player, he will be 100% off!”
Even Willy Orban, a victim of Vinicius’ blood attack, could not digest it. “Unfortunately, referees don’t have the courage to send off such players,” the Hungarian said on Sky Sport Austria. “You can give them a red card. He’s pushing me with both hands on my neck. It’s just insulting!”
“In this situation, there is only one decision to make,” added the club’s sporting director, Reuven Schröder. “It is decisive for the match. If a player works to that extent and commits a foul, there are no two votes for me. With VAR it should be possible to make that decision. The fact is that even if this player scores 1-0 is. The crowning achievement of all this. It is highly debatable. In the two matches, the respect for the referee was great (for Real).
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