Former Arsenal star Granit Xhaka slams under-fire referee Michael Oliver | Football

Former Arsenal star Granit Xhaka slammed English referee Michael Oliver following Bayer Leverkusen’s Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich.

Two goals from Harry Kane sandwiched a fortuitious Jamal Musiala strike, handed to him on a plate by Leverkusen goalkeeper Matej Kovar, put Vincent Kompany’s side firmly in the driving seat ahead of next week’s second leg.

Kane opened the scoring with a sumptuous header in the ninth minute and, in all likelihood, put the tie to bed with a quarter of an hour remaining when he converted a controversial penalty.

After consulting with VAR, Oliver pointed to the spot having decided Edmond Tapsoba was guilty of grappling with Kane in the penalty area.

The England international duly converted from 12 yards, registering his 31st goal of another prolific campaign, but Xhaka felt Oliver was guilty of making a decision he would never have made had he been officiating in the Premier League.

‘In the Premier League, he [Michael Oliver] doesn’t give that,’ said Xhaka who made 225 top flight appearances for the Gunners during his time in England.

‘I spent seven years there and know Michael. I’m convinced he wouldn’t whistle it in the Premier League.

‘There are so many blocks in the Premier League that today it was nothing. It’s a bit disappointing from him to whistle such a penalty at this level and probably decide the game.

‘If you give a penalty for every block, there would be so many penalties every game.’

Despite facing an almost impossible task, Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso is refusing to give up hope of his side mounting a comeback that would rival the one staged by his Liverpool side at the expense of AC Milan in the final 20 years ago.

‘Absolutely,’ said Alonso when asked if the tie still had life in int. ‘It will take time to analyse and go through this result because we have been beaten well.

‘Everything went against us because of us. But it is not over until it is over and, as you said, anything can happen.

‘The mindset has to be that and if there is a chance, we will fight for it. We have to fight back. We will learn from this and believe in our return leg. We don’t give up so easily.’

Kane, meanwhile, admitted he was disappointed not to score a hat-trick after missing a glorious late chance and urged caution ahead of the second leg.

He said: ‘We took our moments well. The first goal was a bit out of nowhere, wasn’t a big chance, but we took that moment and I feel like we grew into the game.

‘At 1-0 it was still really tight, but the second goal is a mistake that we capitalise on and then the sending off meant the momentum kept going in our favour.

‘It would have been nice to get another goal right at the end with that chance [from Palhinha], but overall a really dominant performance.

‘As ever though, it’s the first leg, we can’t get carried away. We know how tough a team they are, we know they can be dangerous and next week will be tough.’

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