Suarez: A Serbian referee is not good enough

Atletico Madrid’s Mario Suarez was furious with the standard of refereeing during his side’s scoreless draw against Real Madrid, with the midfielder claiming “a Serbian referee” is not up to standard “for this type of match”.

Suarez slammed Milorad Mazic’s performance after the draw in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final. The midfielder was booked late in the second half and will miss next Wednesday’s second leg at Santiago Bernabeu as a result.

Mazic was refereeing in his 15th Champions League match – excluding qualifiers – and took charge of the quarter-final first leg between Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea last season, as well as the UEFA Europa League semi-final second leg between Valencia and Sevilla.

But according to Suarez, the 42-year-old was not good enough.

“The referee was very bad. With all due respect, you can’t have a Serbian referee for this type of match,” the Spaniard told Marca.

“I hope they choose a better referee for the second leg.”

But Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas insisted Mazic’s display was fine when factoring in the intensity of the derby atmosphere.

“For me, I think he was good,” Casillas told AS.

“If we have to analyze every play… might be harder. We competed intensely.

“The referee is not the biggest problem. I think the referee was good for both teams.”