WATCH: ‘Negreira at it again’ – Barcelona catches FLAK after controversial refereeing calls in LaLiga matchup against Real Sociedad

A tight game that ended 1-0 in favour of FC Barcelona against Real Sociedad has had a section of fans ‘up in arms’ as they share clips online about several incidents in the game where the referee seems to be favouring the Blaugrana. This came after a ‘penalty shout’ from Sociedad in the 66th minute of the game was not given.

In the 66th minute of the game, Mikel Oyarzabal was caught on the foot by Jules Koundé inside the Barcelona box. The defender got all of the foot and none of the ball but managed to get away with it as the referee did not award Sociedad a penalty for that challenge. This outraged many football fans online as they called out Barcelona’s on the Negreira case due to this incident. To rub salt into their wounds, Barcelona scored a late winner on the night owing to a header by Ronald Araújo in the 90+2nd minute of the game.

Barcelona’s win on the night puts them in 3rd place in La Liga – with 27 points – one point behind their rivals, Real Madrid who currently have one game in hand. Now awaiting their next fixture in the UEFA Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk followed by a La Liga fixture against Deportivo Alaves, Xavi will hope that his team’s performance against Sociedad is not repeated as their opposition enjoyed more shots and possession on the night against them.

With a favourable run of fixtures in their next four games, Xavi will wish to earn three points in each of their games before their match against Atletico Madrid in December.

Twitter Reacts to Barcelona’s favorable refereeing decisions against Real Sociedad

The alleged foul committed by Jules Kounde was not the only challenge fans feel hard done by. The person who scored the winner on the night, Araujo, many feel should not have been on the pitch to score the winning goal as his tackle on Aihen Muñoz deserved a ‘red’. Araujo escaped without receiving even a yellow card. Fans online were furious as Nacho Fernandez had received a ‘red card for a similar challenge he had made in the past.

Here are some of the reactions:

While debates can be made about the decision being made, referees this season have been on the receiving end of plenty of abuse this season and with the current state of the game and VAR, referees are being further scrutinized for the decisions they make with many labelling their decisions ‘subjective calls’ due to the lack of consistency.

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