Suarez fumes at Serbian referee for Mandzukic treatment

Atletico midfielder Mario Suarez hit out at Serbian referee Milorad Mazic for his treatment of Croatia international Mario Mandzukic in Tuesday's goalless Champions League clash with Real Madrid, describing his performance as "very bad".

Mandzukic fought a running battle with the Madrid defence, in particular Sergio Ramos, who left the Atletico man with a nasty cut near the eye following a stray elbow.

Ramos was not penalized for the offence, enraging Mandzukic, who was then yellow-carded himself for an innocuous challenge on Raphael Varane.

Suarez did not mince his words afterwards and felt Uefa had blundered in allowing Serbian Mazic to take charge.

"The referee was very bad," he told TVE. "With all due respect, they cannot put a referee from Serbia [in charge] today. The referee did not show enough quality."

The 0-0 draw leaves the tie finely balanced, with Madrid bossing the first half and Atletico edging the second at the Vicente Calderon.

Suarez added: "The draw is not what we wanted but it is open. We will have a chance in the second leg. We would have liked to have scored a goal but we will try to win at the [Santiago] Bernabeu.

"The game was balanced. We had chances but none materialized. Now let's see what happens in the next game."