What were the major refereeing errors that helped Barcelona beat PSG 6-1?

In a refereeing report seen by EFE, José María Enríquez Negreira found major officiating errors in Barça’s 2017 Champions League win over PSG.

As Barcelona face another double header against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, we reflect on a huge scandal between the two clubs just a few years ago. A refereeing report compiled for Barcelona by José María Enríquez Negreira and his son, Javier Enríquez, acknowledged that key officiating errors were made in the Blaugrana’s favour in their memorable European comeback against PSG.

The document appeared among court files seen by Spanish news agency EFE amid the ongoing investigation into Barça’s relationship with Negreira, who is the former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee, the body that governs soccer officiating in the country.

In March 2017, Barça beat PSG 6-1 in the second leg of the teams’ UEFA Champions League last-16 tie, in the process overturning a 4-0 deficit from the opening leg. Current PSG boss Luis Enrique was then in the Barça dugout.

According to analysis offered by Negreira and his son in their report, there were two particular errors made by Deniz Aytekin, the referee for the return leg at the Camp Nou: the German’s failure to award a penalty against Barça in the 84th minute, and his decision to give the Catalans a spot-kick five minutes later.

The report says Aytekin should have pointed to the spot when Barça’s Javier Mascherano “caught [… PSG’s Ángel] di María, denying him a clear goalscoring chance in the Barcelona area”. Not only should a foul have been given, the document says, but Aytekin should also have sent Mascherano off.

On the penalty awarded to Barça shortly afterwards, when Aytekin deemed that striker Luis Suárez had been