The next day, several Italian media outlets questioned the match, claiming the referee's performance was seriously flawed.

They focused particularly on several key controversial calls in the first half.

"...The Swede, Svensson's, decisions could be compiled into a 'collection of every mistake a referee can make' to be used as a cautionary tale for rookie referees. The offside calls were baseless, Chen Hero's first headed goal should have counted, and Chris's handball before halftime was undeniable... but Svensson got them all wrong!"

"It's not hard for a referee to make one mistake in a game; the hard part is making mistakes repeatedly..."

"Svensson is a referee whom UEFA is heavily grooming. If nothing goes wrong, he will also appear on the World Cup officiating list next year... He is one of the young referees Platini has promoted since taking office... But in this game, he made so many low-level mistakes. I really don't know if this will affect his qualifications for officiating at the World Cup..."

"After the game, both coaches refused to talk about the referee, obviously aware that the issue was sensitive and they couldn't speak carelessly. But silence doesn't mean there's no problem. After analyzing it, we found many suspicious points in Svensson's calls. Such blatant favoritism is rare..."

"...Dear readers, I suddenly want to revisit a piece of history with you, a not-so-distant history. May 6, 2009, the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, Chelsea at home against Barcelona, the referee for that game was the Norwegian, Henning..."

"I'm not saying anything about Platini, I'm just stating a simple fact, which is... the referee in this game was unilaterally biased towards the home team, Lyon, far beyond the normal scope of 'home advantage.' At the same time, Platini declared before the game that he supported Lyon as a Frenchman, and he personally went to watch this game, which was neither a high-profile match nor a clash of titans. Yes, I'm just stating such a fact..."

"Since Platini took office, some of UEFA's practices have caused a lot of controversy. Can we make some kind of association? No, we can't, because we lack evidence. Even in such a game that any discerning person can see has problems, we still lack evidence..."

...

On the surface, the media seemed to be saying that this matter had nothing to do with Platini, but anyone with a normal IQ could see that the media was being sarcastic.

Chen Hero's classic quote from the post-match interview also made it into the newspapers and on television.

"Hero said his celebration was to pay tribute to Platini, so let us also pay tribute to Platini in the same way!"

"This is truly ironic. I don't think even Platini himself would believe Chen Hero was really thanking him, unless he had a problem in his head..."

"...All of us Napoli players dedicate this victory to our beloved President Platini. I believe he will be very happy!... Because it was his appearance and pre-match statements that inspired us, giving us the drive to win the game despite facing very unfair treatment..."

An Italian television host wore a wicked grin after playing the footage of Chen Hero's interview.

"Yes, we are also very grateful to Mr. Platini. Because he allowed us to see a very exciting game! If not for this, the game would have been just another ordinary group stage match. Precisely because of him, this game has become a match that will stand the test of time in Champions League history, a true classic! A textbook game that tells us how to win even when the entire referee team is against you! Thank you, Mr. Platini!"

The British media, who always liked to join in the fun, naturally wouldn't let go of this opportunity. Because Platini had always disliked the English Premier League teams, he had racked his brains since taking office, and all the methods he came up with were aimed at the English Premier League teams. With a long-standing feud between the two sides, how could the British media let go of this excellent opportunity to attack Platini?

So The Sun took the lead, believing that Platini was the mastermind behind the game, and his pre-match statement was too suspicious.

The Daily Telegraph carefully analyzed Platini's performance in the stands, especially the changes in his expression after several key calls and goals, drawing a conclusion from it—"...When Lyon benefited, Platini had a relaxed smile on his face, but when Napoli scored, his face immediately turned frosty... What does this mean? I don't think I need to explain it too clearly, right?"

"UEFA should thoroughly investigate this game, especially whether their president, Mr. Platini, and the referee, Svensson, had any private dealings..."

In the eyes of the media in other countries, the British media's words were simply outrageous, reckless, and downright frightening.

But that was their style. They even dared to expose the scandals of the England team coach before such an important game as the World Cup, causing the England team to be demoralized and ultimately defeated in Germany. As for criticizing the English Football Association, they did it even more, even to the point where the English Football Association banned them, not allowing the relevant television stations to broadcast England national team games...

So they were not afraid of any power at all. What about UEFA? Such a powerful opponent only aroused their greater desire to survive and their interest.

※※※

Faced with the media's frantic hype and questioning, UEFA's official statement was very "official":

"There is no evidence to suggest that this game was fixed."

With just this sentence, they answered all the media's questions.

Platini's own statement was: "Svensson's calls did have some problems, but as a young referee, such mistakes are unavoidable. As for those accusations against me personally... I personally welcome the supervision of me. I have no problems. I don't know Svensson. And I want to say it again, the referee's problem in this game has nothing to do with my pre-match statement. Even if it happened again, I would still insist on supporting Lyon as a Frenchman, because they needed support at that time. I respect UEFA's decision. There is no evidence to prove that there is anything wrong with this game, so there is no need to start an investigation procedure. The debate about this game should end here. I don't want the media to intervene and hype it up excessively, affecting Svensson's personal life. We must think about the lessons of the past, the same from the Swedish referee Anders Frisk... I warn the media not to over-exaggerate this matter and not to conspire against it. UEFA has very strict penalties for those who make unfounded accusations against referees!"

The Swedish referee he was talking about had a story. It was about the 2004-2005 season, the Champions League round of 16, Barcelona at home against Mourinho's Chelsea. In the game, Frisk sent off Chelsea striker Drogba with a red card. This call also became the turning point of that game, and ultimately Barcelona defeated Chelsea 2:1 at home. After the game, Mourinho attributed the loss to the referee. He claimed that he saw Barcelona officials enter the referee's休息室 (xiuxi shi - rest room) during halftime, which could indicate that Barcelona colluded with the referee.

As a result, Mourinho's words caused an uproar and pushed Frisk into the eye of the storm. After the game, the media kept blocking Frisk's house, and he also claimed to have received death threat emails from some Chelsea fanatic fans.

All of this made him unbearable, and he finally decided to retire early.

Since Frisk was a fairly well-known international referee in Sweden, his retirement caused a great reaction.

Many referees were shocked by his retirement and slammed Mourinho's unfounded accusations. UEFA also considered setting some strict penalties against attacking referees. Attacking and questioning referees would be strictly prohibited.

So later, many people dared not casually discuss and question the referee.

Platini brought up the old story at this time, taking this matter as an example to remind everyone—don't blindly accuse and criticize Svensson in pursuit of news effects, and be careful that he repeats the same mistakes as his compatriot Frisk and chooses to retire early. You must know that it is not easy for UEFA to train an excellent referee now...

At the same time, he was also hinting, telling those who were up to no good—it is not like before, when you can casually accuse the referee. Even if there is a great injustice, you are not allowed to criticize the referee in private. If there is a problem, go to UEFA. If UEFA says there is no problem, then there is really no problem! You are not allowed to discuss it in private anymore!

Faced with such a rogue response, everyone felt unwilling, but you just couldn't find a problem.

Because they really lacked evidence...

In the post-match report submitted by Svensson, he admitted that he had made some wrong calls.

This was equivalent to taking all the responsibility on himself, and there was no way to question Platini at all. At most, it was just a game where a young referee performed poorly due to inexperience.

Moreover, since Napoli had won the game after all, and Lyon had also qualified for the group stage, both clubs had an attitude of trying to smooth things over. If neither side cooperated, the media would not be able to hype it up even if they wanted to.

Discussions and reports about this matter gradually decreased.

Everything seemed calm.

But was it really like this?

No one knew how ugly the face of the person in power at UEFA was when he saw Chen Hero say that he would dedicate the goal and the victory of the game to Platini...

Being slapped in the face in person and ridiculed by the other party in this way, do you think Platini could swallow this insult?

Impossible!

So, this matter is definitely not over!

In a few days, it will be the draw for the knockout stage of the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, and then... hum!