West Ham be warned as the Olympiacos referee sparked fury among Scotland and Ireland with ‘puzzling’ performances.
West Ham welcome Olympiacos to the London Stadium on Thursday night looking for a measure of revenge.
But they will have to be wary of the man overseeing what promises to be a fiery clash in east London.
West Ham’s 2-1 defeat to Olympiacos in Greece two weeks ago was notable for a number of reasons.
Not only has it thrown Europa League Group A wide open between the Hammers, Freiburg and Olympiacos.
But the likes of James Ward-Prowse have revealed West Ham are on a revenge mission after the behaviour of Olympiacos behind the scenes as they celebrated the scalp of the Conference League winners.
David Moyes has called on West Ham fans to make it an intimidating atmosphere for the visitors and be the team’s 12th man.
That may only even things up, though, if the Hammers get on the wrong side of Slovenian referee Matej Jug.
West Ham be warned as the Olympiacos referee sparked fury among Scotland and Ireland with ‘puzzling’ performances.
The UEFA official has a history of upsetting Scotland and Ireland.
Earlier this year Jug was labelled ‘ropey’ by Scottish paper The Daily Record for his ‘puzzling’ handling of Scotland’s match against Norway.
Jug was described as the ‘panto villain’ and was criticised for some very questionable decisions as well as failing to officially acknowledge either Scotland goal in the conventional manner of pointing to the centre circle to gesture a goal had been scored.
That report claimed his performance evoked memories of Jug’s officiating of an infamous Ireland defeat to Portugal two years ago.
“Jug drew the ire of Irish fans in 2021 after a puzzling performance in their defeat to Portugal,” the report states.
“He failed to spot Jeff Hendrick win the ball after an early penalty call, despite a painstaking look via VAR. Ronaldo, who was aiming to break the international goal record for his country, got away with a slap on Dara O’Shea.
“Aaron Connolly was denied a second half penalty, while Stephen Kenny was left angry at the delay the officials caused when he was trying to make subs, during which time Ronaldo headed an equaliser.
“Of course, he then added a winner deep into injury time – time Ireland felt should not have been added on. Of course, it’s always a minimum, but that doesn’t stop the grievances. To make things worse, Jug was spotted apologising to Ronaldo for booking him after he celebrated by going taps aff.”
Don’t say you have not been warned West Ham.
Jug has also handed out 40 yellow cards and one red in 10 games he has overseen so far this season.
A victory for West Ham will give the Hammers one foot in European knockout football for a third successive season.
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