Real Madrid are known to blame referees when loosing points controversially. Archrivals Barcelona, however, want to stay distant from any sort of criticism directed to match officials.
On Sunday night, Barcelona secured nothing more than a draw away to Espanyol in the Catalan derby. The eventful match saw the visitors hit the net thrice. However, two of their three strikes got rightfully disallowed—the first one for Messi’s handball in the buildup, the second one for offside.
Cesc Fabregas gave Barcelona a first-half lead but Alvaro’s equalizer ended the game 1-1. Very late on, though, the Blaugrana could have stolen all three points. Raul Rodriguez handled the ball in the penalty box, but the match officials weren’t interested in awarding a spot kick.
“There is a referee for that, and if he has not seen it, it's not a penalty,” President Sandro Rosell told Canal Plus when asked to comment on this crucial incident.
“Though of course we always want to win, it didn't happen because Espanyol fought a lot and tried until the end. It's the kind of game that you go home and think about the next day.”
At the post-match press conference, Pep Guardiola refused to blame Barcelona’s 1-1 draw on the referee’s performance. The manager was quoted as saying:
“We have to overcome our mistakes and the things that did not go our team's way.
“We have to look at what we can do, not what the referees do. At Barcelona we have to do it this way and we will continue doing it like this.”
Barcelona are now five points behind Real Madrid. They will have the opportunity to bounce back with a home match against Real Betis this weekend as Guardiola insists that “La Liga is not over yet”.
Cesc Fabregas gave Barcelona a first-half lead but Alvaro’s equalizer ended the game 1-1. Very late on, though, the Blaugrana could have stolen all three points. Raul Rodriguez handled the ball in the penalty box, but the match officials weren’t interested in awarding a spot kick.
“There is a referee for that, and if he has not seen it, it's not a penalty,” President Sandro Rosell told Canal Plus when asked to comment on this crucial incident.
“Though of course we always want to win, it didn't happen because Espanyol fought a lot and tried until the end. It's the kind of game that you go home and think about the next day.”
At the post-match press conference, Pep Guardiola refused to blame Barcelona’s 1-1 draw on the referee’s performance. The manager was quoted as saying:
“We have to overcome our mistakes and the things that did not go our team's way.
“We have to look at what we can do, not what the referees do. At Barcelona we have to do it this way and we will continue doing it like this.”
Barcelona are now five points behind Real Madrid. They will have the opportunity to bounce back with a home match against Real Betis this weekend as Guardiola insists that “La Liga is not over yet”.
