The 0-0 draw between Paris Saint-Germain and Stade de Reims was overshadowed by the referee’s performance in the matchup, which resulted in Sergio Ramos earning a yellow and red card in one minute for arguing a foul call.
During halftime, Kylian Mbappén and Marco Verratti gave the fourth referee an earful for Pierre Gaillouste’s decision to oust Ramos from the match. In his postgame press conference, manager Christophe Galtier was asked for his thoughts on seeing the veteran defender exit in the first half.
“I don’t know if he is at fault or not,” Galtier told reporters after the match (h/t L’Equipe). “He first takes a yellow card. I experienced this situation a few years back during Nîmes-Lille. It is a problem, not cultural, but of football language. I’m sure Sergio didn’t mean to insult the referee but just used an expression that I hear hundreds of times throughout the week.
“It also exists on the ground without it being addressed to a particular person. It’s an expression. I think that at the time, the referee may have lacked discernment and took it for himself when I had already had this concern with José [Fonte]. The referee had taken the expression as an insult to him when it was only a thing that is often said on the field.”
