Friday 15 July 2016 12:44, UK
Hibernian manager Neil Lennon hit out at his "nonsensical" double punishment during his side's 1-0 defeat by Brondby after being sent to the stand for protesting over a disallowed goal.
Lennon lasted half an hour in the dug-out on his Hibs debut before falling foul of officious Spanish referee Juan Martinez Munueara, whose assistant had ruled Jason Cummings offside from Martin Boyle's low cross.
The manager has been handed a one-match touchline ban by UEFA in light of the events at Easter Road and will be in the stands again for the return in Brondby on Thursday July 21.
"We had a legitimately perfect, brilliant goal disallowed," he said. "He's onside and I was angry because, firstly, he [the assistant referee] got it wrong, and he wasn't up with play.
"I remonstrated with the linesman and was sent off for no reason whatsoever. I didn't think the referee had a good game, which is what I expected after looking at his record before the game. The relationship with the two linesmen was poor.
"I want to appeal it, because it's just a piece of nonsense. It's the first time in Europe that I've been sent to the stand so I'm really irked by that. It looked to me like he [Munueara] wanted to be the star of the show rather than the players."
Hibs, who conceded a goal after 16 seconds, also thought they should have had a penalty midway through the second half when Grant Holt went down inside the box.
"If the referee doesn't book Grant then it should have been a penalty," Lennon said. "He's not going to fall over on his own. It looked like there was contact, but it was minimal. A lot of his decisions were pretty inconsistent."
