Ronald Koeman blames El Clasico loss on disappointing refereeing
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Koeman arguing with the referee
FC Barcelona suffered a heart breaking 2-1 loss against Real Madrid and coach Ronald Koeman felt his side were hard done by a number of refereeing decisions throughout the match. Koeman got his tactics horribly wrong in the first half as a 3-5-2 system did not work and Real Madrid threatened continuously on the counter.
However, Koeman chose to speak about the referee after the loss as he had done in the post-match conference in last El Clasico defeat. Gil Manzano was at the centre of attraction as he added on just 4 extra minutes and did not award a penalty to Barcelona late on in the match.
Barcelona and Koeman were furious after being denied a penalty and with the addition of only 4 minutes extra-time
Martin Braithwaite went down in the box after being grabbed by Ferland Mendy inside the final 10 minutes, but referee Gil Manzano did not point to the spot and the VAR didn’t intervene to reverse the on-pitch decision.
“Everyone has seen the game and if you’re a Barca fan you’re angry; you’re not happy with some of the referee’s decisions,” Koeman told Movistar after the final whistle.
“First of all, I just want to say that in the first half we weren’t good, attacking or defending. In the second half, we improved.
“I only ask that referees get decisions right. It’s a penalty and then, after that, to only add four minutes of stoppage time when the referee had spent three minutes [fixing a communication] issue with the VAR… But the penalty is crystal clear. There is a referee, a linesman, VAR.”
“But yes, there are moments in the game, in my opinion, such as the penalty issue, it’s clear, so clear. Everyone has seen it. That’s why we have VAR, for situations like this, to help the referees.”
Also Read : “Real Madrid physically at the limit,” says Zidane after El Clasico win
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