KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 29 — Malaysian social media users vented their frustrations at the Japanese referee who oversaw the match between Malaysia and Vietnam in a Group B match of the AFF Championship on Tuesday that saw Malaysia losing.

Ryuji Sato came under heavy criticism from Malaysians after he pulled a red card against Azam Azmi Murad in the second half of the match that saw Malaysia losing 3-0 at the My Dinh National Stadium in Hanoi.

Feeling the heat, he had initially appealed to Malaysians to stop attacking his personal Instagram account in a post, saying that his family reads all the comments.

Sato also said he had received a call from the Fifa that would decide on his performance in the match, before setting his Instagram to private.

Social media users then took to his Facebook to make their presence felt, apart from revealing that the identity of Sato's Vietnamese girlfriend which they claimed indicated bias, and trained their sights on her.

She had shared on her Instagram a picture of Azam allegedly stepping on a Vietnamese player Doan Van Hau's head after a rough tackle.

Instagram users accused her of being biased as the picture was taken from an angle that made it looked like Azam had purposely stepped on Van Hau's head.

@daniyv_ pointed out prior to the alleged stepping, Van Hau had pushed Azam.

"Isn't that a foul too?” he asked.

@itsmeizamz commented that Sato was a bad referee and told him not to come to Malaysia.

Utusan Online reported that Sato was the same referee who made a controversial decision during the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 qualifying match between Malaysia and Vietnam in June.

During the match, Sato also awarded a penalty kick to Vietnam that saw Malaysia lose 2-1.