Smith was critical of the referee's decision not to award a penalty
Rangers manager Walter Smith insisted the referee wrongly waved away a penalty claim in his side's 4-1 defeat by Sevilla in the Champions League.
Abdoulay Konko brought down Steven Naismith in the 36th minute, but referee Jonas Erikson denied the claim.
"At Champions League level, you would expect a better decision from what was, I think, a very clear-cut circumstance," Smith told BBC Scotland.
"Tonight, the ref opted out of what was a very clear-cut decision."
Rangers were arguably the better side in the first 45 minutes of the match at Ibrox but were hit by a Konko header and an Adriano curler after the break.
Luis Fabiano headed in Sevilla's second and Fredi Kanoute struck for the fourth before Nacho Novo blasted in a consolation for the home side.
"It was a vital decision for us in that first half period," said Smith.
"You can't say it was a turning point, but when we play against teams of the level of Sevilla, we need circumstances to go with us.
"I felt for an hour we played well and, during that period, we needed that little bit of a break and we didn't get it.
"The referee has two decisions to make; one whether it's a penalty or not - from where I was sitting it was clearly a penalty.
"One of the problems all referees have just now is that they have two decisions to make, because they have to send the player off and that makes it awkward for a referee."
Meanwhile, Naismith was also disappointed with the referee's decision and maintained he did not dive under pressure from Konko.
"In my eyes, I definitely think it was a stonewall penalty," Naismith said.
"The ball ricocheted off the boy and I managed to knock it past him then he brought me down.
"I was on goal, so I don't know why I would go down with just the goalie to beat.
"If I went down and the ref thinks it was a dive, I should have been booked, but I wasn't - so there's obviously a mix-up somewhere.
"Davie Weir spoke to him and he said he thought I slipped before any contact was made, but I know it was a stonewaller.
"I'm not going to say, if we score that penalty, we win the game, because you're playing a top-class team, but it would have got the fans up and given us something to hold on to.
"It was right before half time and it would have been a changing point in the game, but in the end it wasn't to be."
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