Champions League referee spotted crying after Borussia Dortmund beat PSG

Referee Daniele Orsato was reduced to tears after taking charge of his last Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund. Orsato, who refereed the final in 2020, is expected to retire after this summer’s Euros and looked emotional after the final whistle on Tuesday night.

Dortmund progressed to the Champions League final with a 2-0 aggregate victory, with Mats Hummels scoring the only goal of the game on the night. They will face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the tournament’s showpiece event at Wembley next month.

The referee for the final is yet to be confirmed but Orsato is not expected to be the man in the middle. He was visibly emotional after taking charge of his last Champions League game at the Parc des Princes, with the Italian bursting into tears after blowing the final whistle.

Orsato became a FIFA-listed referee in 2010 and has officiated matches in Serie A alongside his European and international commitments. His career highlight came in 2020, when he refereed the Champions League final between PSG and Bayern Munich.

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The German giants emerged victorious on that occasion, with Kingsley Coman’s second-half winner proving to be the difference. Orsato earned another major accolade later in 2020, being named the best referee of the calendar year by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).

Orsato has also refereed at two World Cups, including the most recent edition of the tournament in 2022. He was heavily criticised for his performance in the semi-final between Croatia and Argentina, with Luka Modric branding him ‘one of the worst’ after awarding the penalty that saw Lionel Messi open the scoring.

“I can’t believe that penalty was awarded,” fumed Modric. “There is no foul on the penalty because he shoots and will definitely collide with our goalkeeper because of that. It is clear that it changed the game a lot. I don’t usually talk about referees, but today it’s impossible not to do so.

“[Orsato] is one of the worst I know and I’m not talking only about today, because I met him before and never had a good memory of him. He’s a disaster. I want to congratulate Argentina, I don’t want to take credit away from them. They deserve to be in the final, but that first penalty wasn’t a penalty and it destroyed us.”