Felix Brych had some questions to answer at half-time on Wednesday night.
The referee was greeted by no fewer than three members of Juventus’ board of directors at the midway point of the Italian side’s 2-0 Champions League victory over Valencia this week.
Brych had sent off Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo in controversial fashion 15 minutes earlier and he was confronted by several Juve representatives at the break.
Pavel Nedved, the former Juventus midfielder who now acts as the club’s vice president, led the march to Brych’s dressing room at half-time at the Estadio Mestalla.
Spanish newspaper Marca report that Nedved left his seat to vent his frustrations towards the match official after Ronaldo saw red for a coming-together with Valencia defender Jeison Murillo.
Yeah, that's not what happened https://t.co/JwyzG9Msdv
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOE_UK) September 20, 2018
A witness reports that Nedved and his colleagues raised their voices after confronting the German referee but Brych kept on walking towards the safety of the referee’s room.
Juventus manager Max Allegri is adamant that the decision would have been overturned had VAR been available to consult in the Old Lady’s Group H opener.
“I can only say that VAR would’ve helped the referee in this decision,” Allegri said.
“Going down to 10 men in the Champions League for an incident like that is disappointing.
“We risked losing tonight with this and we’ll miss him for the next games too.”
