I'm an ex-Premier League star – Arsenal referee left me disgusted by one decision

Arsenal's relationship with referees this season has been anything but smooth. The Gunners have already seen three of their players sent off in their opening eight Premier League outings, and all under contentious circumstances.

But any hopes their luck might change in the Champions League may have to be temporarily shelved, considering the history of French referee Benoit Bastien, who is the middle man for Tuesday's clash with Shakhtar Donetsk at the Emirates Stadium. The 41-year-old is a 13-year veteran of French, European and international football, but that doesn't mean he's immune from causing controversy.

Take, for instance, an incident back in 2015 involving West Ham icon Dimitri Payet, who was left feeling "disgusted" after his Marseille side were denied a goal in a critical match against Lyon. Mere months before Ligue 1 introduced goal-line technology, the referee failed to spot the ball trickling over the line after Lucas Ocampos turned Payet's cross goalward, sparking fury among the players.

The match ended 0-0, denying Marcelo Bielsa's Marseille the chance to reduce the gap between them and their league-leading opponents to just a point. A visibly upset Payet later vented: "We are disgusted!

"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."

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Payet, now 37, had every reason to be upset, especially considering how Marseille's form dipped dramatically in the weeks that followed. Despite a victory over Lens shortly after, they suffered four consecutive league defeats, effectively ending their title aspirations.

Ultimately, they ended up in fourth place, trailing champions PSG by 14 points and missing out on a Champions League spot by just two points. To add insult to injury, both Payet and Bielsa departed the club that summer - with the former moving to West Ham, and the latter resigning due to disagreements with the board.

Arsenal will be hoping for an incident-free evening under Bastien's supervision. He has refereed one of their matches previously: their 1-0 Europa League triumph over Red Star Belgrade in October 2017, where Olivier Giroud netted a late winner.

Currently, the Gunners sit 13th in the Champions League table, having secured a win and a draw from their first two fixtures. Shakhtar, on the other hand, are languishing in 27th position, having only managed to accumulate a single point in the competition thus far.

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