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Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) midfielder Marco Verratti has expressed his displeasure with the quality of refereeing in the Parisians' defeat to Nantes.
Mauricio Pochettino's side suffered their second Ligue 1 defeat of the season against Nantes on Saturday. The Canaries picked up a surprise 3-1 victory over the league table-toppers at home, courtesy of first-half goals from Randal Kolo Muani, Quentin Merlin and Ludovic Blas.
Neymar pulled one back for PSG in the opening minutes of the second half. However, the Brazil international failed to take reduce the deficit to one goal, as he missed a penalty around the hour mark.
While the defeat came as a shock to the Parisians, Verratti was not pleased with the way the referee officiated the game. The midfielder said that the PSG players could not even speak to the official properly during the match. He told French television channel Canal Plus (via PSG Talk):
“How is it possible that we take ten yellow cards? We can’t even talk to the referee. We cannot do anything. The referee, when we come to talk to him, he says we can talk. There we cannot talk at all. He’s the only referee in the world who can do things like that."
The Italy international also thought Nantes defender Dennis Appiah should have received a second yellow for his foul on Kylian Mbappe that led to the penalty. Verratti said:
"The penalty is the second yellow card (for Appiah) and therefore red. These are things where the referees have to take responsibility because there we get shit on by the referee."
Neymar, Mbappe, Verratti, Georginio Wijnaldum, Achraf Hakimi and Angel Di Maria were all booked on Saturday. However, the referee only dished out yellows to two Nantes players - Appiah and Jean-Charles Castelletto.
Ligue 1 defeat not a huge worry for PSG
Despite suffering a shock loss to Nantes this weekend, Mauricio Pochettino's side still enjoy a comfortable 13-point lead atop the Ligue 1 table. Second-placed Marseille have a game in hand, but can only reduce the gap with the table-toppers to ten points.
Lille beat the Parisians to the Ligue 1 title last season, finishing just one point above them. However, the French giants are on course to reclaim their crown this time.
