CSKA came out with a sharp official position, announcing that they had filed a complaint against the refereeing in the match with CSKA 1948. The main referee of the match at the foot of Vitosha was Lyuboslav Lyubomirov.
„The Reds“ are categorical that they do not want the Pernik referee to referee their matches anymore. In their complaint to the Bulgarian Football Union, the club defines his actions as a „punitive action“ against the team.
Something more – from „Bulgarian Army“ insist that Lyuboslav Lyubomirov never again receive orders for football matches, considering his performance to be deliberate and biased.
From CSKA, they expect the BFU and the Referee Commission to examine the case and take adequate measures.
Here is the official position of CSKA:
"After yesterday's yet another punitive action against our team by the referees, CSKA has filed an official complaint with the BFU Referee Commission.
We categorically insist that referee Lyuboslav Lyubomirov not only no longer receive orders for our team's matches, but also that he be removed from professional football forever. The arguments for this are extremely clear and undeniable: an endless string of reverse fouls, missed violations against our players and fabricated ones in favor of the opponent; completely inadequate and biased behavior of Lyubomirov throughout the match, with which he showed that he categorically has no place in the Bulgarian elite refereeing.
We will highlight only a few striking episodes - a second yellow card saved at the end of the first half for Cuellar for a backhand foul against Sensi (a situation that, to everyone's amazement, was interpreted by the main referee as a foul by the Italian!?), an absolutely non-existent foul against Rusev, from which the equalizing goal for 2:2 fell, an equally fabricated second yellow card for Sensi, which led to his removal from the game. And more, and more...
We are outraged not only by Lyubomirov's refereeing, but also by the ever-longer list of CSKA matches that have been tainted by the refereeing teams, always to our detriment.
In some of these matches, our team lost points due to referees' mistakes. At the end of last season in Razgrad, CSKA was ritually cut down after a Ludogorets defender karate-kicked Leandro Godoy in the chest in the penalty area – a situation that was overlooked by the chief referee Stoyan Arsov and the VAR arbitrator Vasil Minev (subsequently quietly rehabilitated in the refereeing).
A few rounds ago in Varna, Radoslav Gidzhenov and his team overlooked an obvious handball by a defender in the Spartak penalty area at the very end of the match, which cost us a potential 2 points.
In a series of other matches since the beginning of the championship (against Septemvri, Arda, etc.) our team has been subjected to outright terror with non-existent penalty cards for our players and insane decisions.
But the climax undoubtedly came yesterday in Bistritsa. Another proof of the total inadequacy of Lyubomirov and his team came from the referee's report for the match, in which the author of the second goal for CSKA was recorded as... Stefano Sensi.
The facts are truly shocking - not even a third of the season has passed, and CSKA players already have 26 yellow and 2 red cards, with most of our key players having at least two, if not three! Just for comparison - our main competitors in the championship have half as many official warnings. And so, in the decisive part of the season, our team will be bloodless with the lack of one, two, three starters in practically every match...
We wanted to believe that with the appointment of a famous foreign specialist at the head of the Refereeing Commission, with the meetings and discussions regarding refereeing, to which we constantly respond, things would improve. We wanted to believe that together we could make a product that would inspire children and attract famous and proven personalities from the international scene.
The problem is that good intentions - week after week - collide with the ugly reality in Bulgarian refereeing. And change remains just a wish, in which hardly anyone believes anymore..."