PAOK was eliminated from European competition following a 3-2 loss to Brann in the Conference League playoffs, and there are very serious complaints about the refereeing within the team.
The Thessaloniki side is critical of both the English referee, John Brooks, who officiated the match, and Darren England, who was in charge of VAR, regarding two specific plays.
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First, in the opening seconds of the match, Kenny was elbowed by an opponent inside the box, yet the referee took no action, and there was no VAR review, but in the 83rd minute, they ruled that Mathisen went down all by himself—with nothing wrong with Giannoulis’s tackle—and awarded the penalty that decided the match.
In fact, as if that weren’t enough, after the final whistle, PAOK officials went to the referees’ locker room to protest the penalty awarded to the Norwegians, and the English referee responded with sarcastic smiles and mentioned a low-level contact between Giannoulis and the home team’s player.
*photo source: KYPE
