Barcelona felt robbed and rightly so, of three points in their clash with Valencia on Sunday. The Blaugrana drew 1-1 with La Liga’s second-placed club, but a refereeing blunder denied Valverde’s side of a perfect goal.
Valencia goalkeeper Neto spilled a first-half shot from Messi which later crossed over the line, but the linesman failed to notice this. With VAR and goal-line technology both unavailable in Spain’s top-flight, the goal was never awarded despite protest from the players.
While the likes of Valverde and Iniesta showed restraint in their post-match remarks about the incident, Luis Suarez could not immediately after the gaffe. The Uruguayan was guilty of a foul-mouthed rant at the linesman for not awarding the goal.
According to Spanish publication AS, the Blaugrana forward yelled "You are a [s***ter], dwarf s***" at the official for his failure to see that the ball crossed over the line. It remains unclear whether the 30-year-old will be punished for his rant.
La Pulga was also upset, but the five-time Ballon d’Or winner chose his words more wisely. The Argentine told the match officials: "You are wrong, now you are going to see it."
The draw means that Barcelona’s lead over Atletico and Real Madrid was cut to eight points, with Valencia only four points behind Valverde’s side.
The Catalan giant will take a short break from the league in order to focus on Copa del Rey. The defending champion welcomes Real Murcia at Camp Nou with a 3-0 advantage from the first leg.
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