I cannot defend Thomas Tuchel’s post-match rant against French referee Clement Turpin after his Bayern Munich side’s exit from the Champions League quarter-finals in 2023 but I can understand his frustration.Tuchel told reporters afterwards that Turpin was “Grade E… I would give him one out of 10. He was absolutely terrible. It’s unbelievable at this level.”Not a fan, then.The incident has returned to the headlines after Turpin was appointed to England’s opening game of the Worldturp Cup against Croatia in Dallas tomorrow.I looked back at that 2023 match to try and work out why he was so upset. The circumstances partly explain it: Bayern were 3-0 down from the first leg and needed everything to go their way in the return fixture, including the refereeing decisions.But from early in the match, Tuchel takes against Turpin, and I can see why. In the fifth minute the officials missed a clear foul by Ruben Dias on the edge of City’s penalty area, and eight minutes later failed to spot an off-the-ball trip by the same player, which would have been worthy of a yellow card as it denied Bayern a great attacking opportunity.By then there had been five free kicks, the first four of which had (rightly) been awarded to the visitors. Such a one-sided foul count is often perceived as bias even if the decisions are objectively correct, prompting comments such as “there are two teams out here ref”, or presumably the German equivalent in this case.Visibly annoyed, Tuchel then blew a fuse when Turpin waved away appeals for a Bayern free kick a yard or two outside the box, then moments later showed a red card to his defender Dayot Upamecano for bringing down Erling Haaland when clean through on goal.Clement Turpin withdraws the red card he had shown to Dayot Upamecano (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)The dismissal was overturned as Haaland had been offside, but Tuchel’s public protests at the cumulation of calls against his team still earned him a yellow card from the French official.