Galatasaray vs Man Utd ref’s changing room was stormed by raging Barca president

The referee for Manchester United's must-win Champions League clash with Galatasaray is no stranger to controversy.

La Liga whistle man Jose Maria Sanchez once had to contend with an apoplectic Barcelona president storming into his dressing room demanding answers after Real Madrid's El Clasico victory in October last year. Los Blancos sealed a comfortable 3-1 win, but Barca chief Joan Laporta blamed the defeat on Sanchez, who had awarded Madrid a contentious penalty and disallowed a Barcelona goal in the game.

In his post-match report, Sanchez said Laporta was "invited to leave" after barging into the officials' changing room and aggressively confronting Sanchez. He wrote: "Once the match was over and the referee team was inside the locker room, the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta Estruch, accessed it.

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"He repeatedly requested explanations about some situations in the match. Given these events, he was invited to leave the arbitration locker room, without further incident."

Laporta's anger may have stemmed from the fact Sanchez had something of a history of bungling Barcelona matches heading into the tie. He was removed from La Liga duty for a week back in 2020 after making a series of gaffe's during the Catalan club's 3-2 win over Real Betis.

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United will hope for as uncontroversial a performance as possible from the Spaniard this evening as they look to drag themselves back into Champions League knockout round contention. Anything less than a win would be calamitous, particularly with Bayern Munich to come in the final round of fixtures next month.

Defeat would see them eliminated from the competition, while a draw would mean they'd have to beat Bayern to stand any chance of progressing. Three points, however, would move them into second place – assuming Bayern get the job done against Copenhagen tonight – and will mean that a draw against the Bundesliga giants in two weeks' time could be enough to secure passage to the last 16.

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But a victory away to Galatasaray is easier said than done. United have never won in Istanbul, and have only beaten the Turkish giants twice in seven attempts.

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