Pogba bemoans penalty call

Paul Pogba lambasted referee Cuneyt Cakir after the Turkish official turned down Juventus’ appeals for what could have proved a crucial penalty in the 3-1 UEFA Champions League final defeat to Barcelona.

Ivan Rakitic got Barca off to a flying start in Berlin on Saturday and, although former Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata pulled one back nine minutes into the second half, Luis Suarez and then a late Neymar goal wrapped things up for the Liga champions.

Pogba felt things could have been different, however, had he been awarded a spot-kick when he appeared to be hauled to the ground by Dani Alves just a few moments before Suarez’s goal.

“I should have had a penalty,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “I think the referee made some mistakes, but that’s football. We can’t do anything about it. We have to learn from this.”

Despite being critical of the role Cakir played in Europe’s biggest club match, Pogba acknowledged that Barcelona were the better team on the day and were worth their triumph, securing the second treble in the club’s history.

“We tried our best and Barcelona were better than us – congratulations to them,” he added. “We believed we could do it and when we scored we thought we could win the game. 

“When they scored the second our heads were a bit down, but we tried and tried again and they scored at the end.”