Referee Daniele Orsato was in tears after the end of Tuesday's game between Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Dortmund for the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League. The Germans earned the 0-1 victory and advanced to the final for the first time since 2013.
For Daniele Orsato, this was the last time that he officiated a game in the UEFA Champions League, as he will retire in the summer. He got high praise for his officiating from fans and football pundits after the game.
"Italian ref Daniele Orsato showing how to run a game. Supported by VAR rather than governed by it. Strong, applied advantage and decisive (rightly, quickly changed pen to fk. And Mbappe one prob 50-50). Respected by players," journalist Henry Winter wrote on X, via Daily Mail.
Orsato started his career in 2010 and will officially retire from football after the end of Euro 2024, which will take place in June.
Croatia NT goalkeeper once called out Daniele Orsato
Daniele Orsato has received high praise from fans, pundits, and players multiple times during his officiating career. Still, not all players had good things to say about him.
Croatia NT goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic once called him out for a penalty he awarded against the Croatians back in 2022 when Orsato officiated the FIFA World Cup semi-final between Argentina and Croatia.
"These things have to be mentioned, I generally don't do them, but today they have to be done. I don't like to talk about referees, but this is one of the worst. I don't have a good memory of [Orsato], he's a disaster. For me it wasn't a penalty. Despite this, I don't want to detract from Argentina. The penalty killed us," Livakovic had said, via Daily Mail.
The Italian referee had officiated the UEFA Champions League final between PSG and Bayern Munich back in 2020 as well as the opening game of the FIFA World Cup. He was also named referee of the year back in 2020.