Barcelona have filed a formal complaint with the European governing body UEFA about the refereeing of Wolfgang Stark in Tuesday's 2-2 Champions League draw at Paris St Germain.

Their main criticism concerns an incident in the second half of the quarter-final first leg in Paris in which Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba collided and were both lying prone on the ground in the penalty area.

"The club has written to UEFA due to a series of incidents on the pitch in the understanding that objectively speaking it was evident that the referee did not apply the rules of the game," Barca spokesman Toni Freixa told a news conference after a meeting of the club's board on Thursday.

"When two players from the same team are on the floor the referee should stop the match, which did not happen.

"What's more he then obliged them to leave the pitch, in contravention of the rules.

"An incident that is sufficiently serious in a competition like the Champions League to bring to UEFA's attention so that it does not happen again."

Barca were also incensed that Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal to make the score 1-1 in the 79th minute was allowed to stand when the Swede was clearly in an offside position.

Ibrahimovic, who spent a season at Barca in 2009-10, was playing only because UEFA halved on appeal the two-match ban he received after his sending-off at Valencia in the last 16 round.

"We are fully conscious of the possibility of errors in refereeing and we do not consider ourselves badly treated," Freixa said.

"But it surprises us that in a high-level competition a referee does not know the rules.

"We are not judging the work of referees but the basic principle that a judge should know the law. We hope it does not happen again."

Barca host PSG in the return game at the Nou Camp on Wednesday. (Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Mark Meadows and John Mehaffey)

@tdot

I consider it laughable when you say that WE'RE the ones getting decisions on our side in La Liga. LOL. Look at your team. We BOTH get too many decisions on our side. Almost as much as United does in the EPL.

@dynastian98 :  you think Barça doesn't deserve their qualification ???  -_-' was 4-0 against Milan unfair?? was psg match robbed ??  any red card ? any offside goal ?? any desicion that helped Barça ?? please explain to me what is your point -_-' ??
RM had the dirtiest football in his history in clasico's after the Manita. and Mourinho were the most hatefull coach at this time ( 3Years ago), i really enjoyed how Guardiola ignored all that hate and jealousy at this time, so players... Barça is the team that commit less fouls in Spain, less red cards... i think saying that Madrid is more Fair-play than Barça is a joke.... no need to share all dirty Clasicos with RM loosing and agressing in extra time because of frustration. i really prefer this era, when we have strong Madrid attacking and playing with intelligence.... 
ask you why Varane will never have red card ?? Ramos and Pepe, well no comment.

@tiki_taka

Your argument, is AGAIN, irrelevant. Did I ever say that PSG - Barca or Milan - Barca was unfair? Learn to read, for Christ's sake. Actually READ my posts and learn to speak English before you post here. Your grammar is so awful I can barely make out your points.

Think I've let this go long enough, this thread is going nowhere and is just back and forth with the same argument.

The Jordi Alba thread will also be closed later if it continues to carry on similar trend.