Malmo´s Hareide furious with referee´s injustice

Malmo coach Age Hareide was furious with the referee after his side’s 2-0 loss to Juventus in the UEFA Champions League.

Hareide complained he found it very hard to “get into a dialogue” with Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca on Wednesday, while he was fuming Malmo did not receive a penalty in the first half or a free-kick in the lead-up to Carlos Tevez’s goal, which doubled Juve’s lead in the 88th minute.

Malmo could have had a penalty just after the half-hour mark in front of their home fans when Markus Halsti tussled with Arturo Vidal but Proenca ignored the claims, while late in the match, Erik Johansson was bundled over by Alvaro Morata in an aerial challenge but no whistle came, as Paul Pogba collected the loose ball and fed Tevez to wrap up the visitors’ victory.

Johansson appeared to be injured as Morata ran into the Malmo central defender and then trod on his ankle and the 25-year-old’s complaints saw him receive two yellow cards in quick succession immediately after Tevez’s goal.

Robin Olsen and Markus Rosenberg also received yellow cards as Malmo surrounded Proenca.

“Erik will miss the match in Athens, it’s bad for him and bad for us,” Hareide said, according to Sydsvenskan.

“We try to show respect towards referees and linesmen, one must accept that they may make mistakes but his time it was a bit much I thought.”

Hareide added: “Erik is fully convinced that it was a free-kick as Juventus scored their second goal.”

While the Norwegian coach conceded he is the type of manager who “usually” has arguments with match officials, he could not resist arguing Malmo deserved a penalty in the 33rd minute.

“Italians are strong in the penalty area but Halsti was torn down. That’s our version from the sideline,” he said.