Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk referee left ex-Premier League star disgusted by decision

Arsenal and referees haven't exactly been mixing well this season, with racking up in their opening eight matches.

But any hopes their luck might change in the may have to be put on ice given the track record of the official for their clash with at the Emirates Stadium this Tuesday. French referee Benoit Bastien, 41, is a 13-year veteran of European football, but that doesn't mean he's immune to the odd clanger.

Case in point: back in 2015, he left icon "disgusted" after cruelly denying his side a late winner against Mere months before goal-line was introduced in Bastien refused to award Marseille a goal despite Lucas Ocampos bundling Payet's cross an inch or two beyond the chalk.

finished 0-0, denying OM side the chance to close the gap on their table-topping opponents to just a point. Afterwards, an incensed Payet raged: "We are disgusted!

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"We're not angry because we played a good game. We could have played a bad game, but tonight everyone was good in our team. For this reason we're even more disgusted.

"It's disgusting. And we are powerless. The referees have to take responsibility. It's hard to lose [two points] like that. It's like a defeat. Because if you win, you get back to within one point of Lyon and the championship would be revived. In the end, we lost everything."

Payet, now 37, had every right to feel aggrieved, particularly given how Marseille imploded in the following weeks. Despite beating Lens a few days later, they lost four league games on the bounce, leaving their title hopes in tatters.

In the end, they finished fourth, 14 points behind champions and two points off a Champions League spot. And to make matters worse, both Payet and Bielsa left the club that summer, with the former joining West Ham and the latter resigning due to conflicts with the board.

will hope for a controversy-free evening under Bastien's watch. He officiated one of their games before; their 1-0 victory over Red Star Belgrade in October 2017, in which Olivier Giroud grabbed a late tie-settler.

The Gunners are currently 13th in the Champions League table, with a win and a draw from their opening two matches. Shakhtar, meanwhile, are down in 27th place, having picked up just a point in the competition so far.

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