After the 1:3 in Madrid, PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi and sporting director Leonardo allegedly caused a scandal. Now UEFA is investigating.
As a UEFA spokesman confirmed to SID this evening, the association’s disciplinary body has opened an investigation into Al-Khelaifi and Leonardo. Accordingly, talks are to follow, and video recordings around the match are also to help clarify the matter.
Al-Khelaifi and Leonardo allegedly tried to get into the locked referee’s dressing room after the 3-1 defeat that meant Champions League elimination for PSG. Other media even report that they forced their way into the dressing room and harassed referee Danny Makkelie. There is contradictory and as yet unconfirmed information about exactly what happened.
A Real employee is said to have filmed the scenes. According to the Marca, which cites club sources, Al-Khelaifi shouted “I’m going to kill you” at the employee before the PSG boss had to be stopped by his own bodyguards. Leonardo demanded that the mobile phone video be deleted.
Already in the closing stages of the match at the Bernabeu, the two are said to have lost their temper. “In the last minutes of the game, he started shouting and gesturing to show what would happen minutes later,” the “Marca” said about Al-Khelaifi. Attempts at appeasement by Real official Emilio Butragueno were also ineffective. Al-Khelaifi had “already broken everything that was considered the minimum rules of conduct in a box” before the incidents in the dressing room.
The stumbling block was Madrid’s goal to make it 1-1; PSG complained in the run-up that triple scorer Karim Benzema had been fouled by PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma. Makkelie, however, allowed the goal to count. Leonardo assessed the situation on “Canal+” as a “clear foul. (…) It’s clear, it’s a mistake.” Coach Mauricio Pochettino concurred: “It’s a mistake that changed everything. “
