Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli says that technology would have helped him to catch a handball by Atletico Madrid midfielder Gabi late in the recent Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Barcelona.
Atletico progressed from the tie 3-2 on aggregate, but late in the return game at the Estadio Vicente Calderon the Colchoneros captain appeared to handle an Andres Iniesta cross right on the edge of his own penalty area.
Gabi himself admitted after the game that the ball had struck his arm, and replays suggested Barca should have had a penalty and a chance to send the tie to extra-time, leading Sport to call the referee's performance "shameful".
Speaking about the incident in La Repubblica, the 2014 World Cup final referee said he had heard about some controversy in the Catalan papers, but said he had made the call as best as he could in the situation.
"At the UEFA meeting I talked to my Spanish colleague, who told me that the controversy in the newspapers had actually only lasted one day and only in the Catalan media where they exaggerated everything," Rizzolli said.
"Atletico deserved it, the performance of the officials was very positive up to the 93rd minute, although then there was an incident that changed things. It was not easy to judge the handball, the Atletico player's feet were outside the area and the objective elements which we had at our disposition led to this decision taken. In such cases, with technology, in a few seconds you could remove all doubt."
A FIFA listed referee since 2007, Rizzoli has also taken charge of the 2010 Europa League final and the 2013 Champions League decider, and was appointed for the game at the Calderon after Atletico had claimed a bias against them when Fernando Torres was controversially sent off in the first leg at the Camp Nou. He suggested he would be in favour of officials having quick access to TV replays to help them decide on incidents they miss during the play.
"Our greatest difficulty is never to be taken by surprise," Rizzoli said. "Mistakes are made when you miss something. The good referee must try to foresee what could happen and then evaluate the elements, and the additional referees [behind the goal] certainly help here.
Barca have suffered from some other tough calls late in big games through recent seasons, including a Bojan Krkic strike which was ruled out for a debatable handball as they exited the Champions League to Inter Milan in 2010 and a Lionel Messi goal disallowed controversially for offside when Atletico won the La Liga title at the Camp Nou on the last day of the 2013-14 campaign.
ESPN FC's Italy correspondent Ben Gladwell contributed to this report