Sevilla players rounded on referee Mark Clattenburg after he awarded controversial decisions against their team in Tuesday night’s defeat to Juventus.
Vitolo described the English referee had ‘sunk us with two absurd decisions, while goalscorer Nico Pareja also described the officiating as ‘wiping out our work’.
“We had taken the lead and were playing really well against the Italian team, but the referee sunk us with two absurd decisions,” Vitolo told BeIn Sports.
“The second yellow card for Franco Vazquez was absolutely ridiculous and giving a penalty right before half-time for a foul that wasn’t so bad really took the wind out of us.
“It’s a shame to lose like this, because without those incidents we certainly would’ve seen a different game. The referee changed it.”
Defender Pareja – who opened the scoring with a low strike from outside the area in the ninth minute – also expressed his disbelief at the decisions.
“We lost against a strong opponent, but they were also fortunate in the incidents,” the 32-year-old told Spanish reporters.
“The Vazquez red card was exaggerated, because he didn’t deserve a second yellow. The referee wiped out our work with two decisions that channelled the match in a certain direction.
“The penalty seemed very dubious to me, because I was marking Patrice Evra, not Bonucci, but frankly the shirt tug did not seem excessive."
