Barcelona coach Hansi Flick described Getafe fans’ racist insults against Alejandro Balde as “unbelievable” and “completely wrong”.
The young left-back was manhandled in the first half of the game in the Spanish capital, prompting him to turn to the referee and inform him of what had been said.
Balde told reporters after the game ended 1-1: “Today I received racist insults, I don’t think it will happen again.”
“It was in the first half, I warned the referee about the racist insults and he activated the protocol and in the second half there was nothing more.”
Flick was asked about his reaction to the situation when he addressed the media, and it was the former Bayern Munich and the German coach understandably stood side by side with his player and demanded action against those responsible.
“There is no place for that in football or in life. It’s unbelievable,” said Flick. “In the times we live in now, this is completely wrong. Those who do this should stay at home, I think we should fight them, that’s the best.”
“But the people around them can also do something because it’s unfair. It’s not the respect we want to live with, I think everyone can do something.”
BarcelonaThe Barcelona coach also touched on another disappointing result in La Liga as he failed to capitalize on Atlético Madrid’s shock defeat to Leganes on Friday evening. There was more bad news from Clasico rivals on Sunday Real Madrid beat Las Palmas 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu to retake top spot from Atleti, seven points ahead of Barca in third place.
“I’m not worried. I am aware of the situation, I know that we have lost a lot of points in the last few games, that is not what we want and we can do much better,” said Flick. “But in the end you can see that we started the season really well this new year and I’m happy about that.”
“But now we have to show it. We have to show it in Lisbon because it is a very important game. If we win three points there, we’ll be in the next round. That’s what we want, but we have to play a lot better.”
