The head of Europe’s referees, the Italian Pierluigi Collina, has backed Michael Oliver over his decision to award that dramatic late penalty for Real Madrid against Juventus in their Champions League semi-final second leg, later dismissing Gianluigi Buffon for his subsequent aggression.

Collina, 58, Uefa’s chief refereeing officer was speaking ahead of the Champions League final in Kiev for the first time about the incident that saw the English referee at the eye of the storm, and his wife Lucy subject to online threats. Buffon has since apologised for the extent of his attack on Oliver during and then after the game, and the Italy international has been charged by Uefa.

On Oliver giving a penalty for Medhi Benatia’s collision with Lucas Vazquez, Collina said it was “a penalty correctly given”. “It’s an interpretation of the incident. The referee saw what happened, he made an assessment and made a decision.”

Collina defended his decision to appoint Oliver to the match despite his relative lack of experience. He said: “I can only say one thing: the referee for that match had 199 Premier League matches at that point. I refereed 240 matches in Serie A [in his whole career].”

Nevertheless, in a wide-ranging interview, Collina admitted that mistakes by other referees had meant that the standard in the Champions League this season had fallen below the standards he expects and that Uefa needs to develop a new generation of officials to replace those retiring.