Barcelona paper makes staggering Real Madrid claim about referee for Inter defeat as UEFA told to investigate

Barcelona newspaper has made a staggering link between Tuesday night's Champions League semi-final referee and Real Madrid after their exit at the hands of Inter Milan.

The Blaugrana suffered a 4-3 extra time defeat in the second leg at the San Siro to lose the tie 7-6 on aggregate and be denied a first appearance in the final since 2015.

Barca came back from 2-0 down at half-time to lead 3-2 in the 87th minute, with Raphinha popping up with what looked to be the winner.

But 37-year-old centre-back, turned emergency striker Francesco Acerbi levelled matters in stoppage time to force extra time - before Davide Frattesi sent Inter into a second Champions League final in three seasons.

Barca felt they were on the receiving end of a number of refereeing calls, so much so that midfielder Pedri even urged UEFA to investigate the performance from Szymon Marciniak - following on from Hansi Flick claiming that Inter got the "50-50 decisions".

According to Sergi Capdevila of SPORT, Barca have been left angry by a number of decisions, including a foul not being called on Gerard Martin for Inter's last-gasp leveller, and a handball incident involving Acerbi.

Barcelona newspaper makes incredible Real Madrid claim

SPORT, via the Daily Mail laid into the Polish official, claiming that his call-up by UEFA was "met with skepticism" because of "previous controversies" including "the video in which he can be seen in the locker room with a Real Madrid bag".

SPORT mentioned Szymon Marciniak being present in a locker room with a Real Madrid bag. Image: 12

They also pointed out that Marciniak, the 2022 World Cup final and 2023 Champions League final referee, took charge of Real's penalty shoot-out win over Atletico in the round of 16 - spotting the infamous Julian Alvarez double touch.

And they continued to bring up past incidents, including disallowed goals for Bayern Munich and Chelsea when Marciniak was the man in the middle.

Flick, who won the Champions League with Bayern in 2020, was furious with the decision to allow Inter's third goal to stand and was booked for his protests in the technical arena.

After the game he made it clear he was not happy with the refereeing, but refrained from going overboard with criticism.

"We think that the result is unfair because of some refereeing decisions, I have to say it," Flick stated.

"I don't want to talk too much about the referee, but every decision that was 50 to 50 ended up being in their favour, that's what makes me sad.

"I don't like to talk about the referee anymore, I've told him what I think, but I'm not going to repeat it here now, it's not fair for my team either, who have done a huge job.