Barcelona head coach Xavi branded referee Istvan Kovacs a ‘catastrophe’ within the aftermath of their Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.
Having crushed PSG 3-2 within the first leg of their quarter-final final week, Barca had been favourites to advance to the semi-finals. Their second bought off to a superb begin when Raphinha put them 1-0 up on the evening.
Nevertheless, Ronald Araujo was despatched off for the hosts after 29 minutes for hauling down Bradley Barcola on the sting of the field because the final defender. Barcelona pleaded that contact was minimal and fellow centre-back Pau Cubarsi was there to cowl him, however the purple card stood even after a VAR overview.
Within the second half, Joao Cancelo conceded a penalty for a late sort out on Ousmane Dembele, whereas Ilkay Gundogan was denied a spot-kick on the different finish after falling below a problem from Vitinha.
Xavi and goalkeeping coach Jose Ramon de la Fuente additionally obtained purple playing cards for continued and offended protestations on the touchlines. In his post-match press convention, the Barcelona boss unleashed his fury in the direction of the referee.
“We’re aggravated, the purple card marked the tie,” Xavi started. “We had been effectively organised [at] 11 vs 11. It utterly modified every little thing. For me, it is an excessive amount of to ship [Araujo] off there.
“The referee was actually unhealthy. I informed him, he was a catastrophe. He killed the tie. I do not like talking about referees but it surely needs to be mentioned. I do not perceive it.
“It isn’t good happening to 10 gamers and from that time on it is one other sport. For as a lot as we communicate [about the match], the purple card marks every little thing.”
When requested about his personal purple card for dissent, Xavi admitted: “That was an error by me, it was my fault.
“It is only a disgrace that the arduous work of a whole season ends due to one refereeing resolution. I might have preferred it to be 11 vs 11 for the entire sport. It is an pointless purple.”
