Marseille are to complain to UEFA about what they regard as improper conduct by Italian referee Pierluigi Collina at last night’s UEFA Cup final.

The Spanish champions Valencia beat the French side 2-0.

The game turned on an incident on the stroke of half-time in which Collina awarded a penalty to Valencia and issued a red card to Marseille keeper Fabien Barthez.

Marseille President Christophe Bouchet was unhappy about the decision and the also believed that Collina demonstrated a favouritism to the Spanish side.

“Mr Collina greeted all the Spanish players one by one before the match and kissed (Valencia’s Italian left-back Amedeo) Carboni,’ said Bouchet.

“At the end they all congratulated him. Carboni went into his (Collina’s) changing room after the match and came out without his shirt.

“I will be writing to UEFA on Thursday simply to alert them to these facts.”