Barcelona president Joan Laporta heavily criticized the quality of the referees in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Getafe, describing the decision not to give his team a late penalty as a “scandal”.
Barca were outraged when referee Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes and VAR Francisco Jose Hernandez Maeso failed to award a penalty eight minutes from time after Christantus Uche appeared to drag Jules Kounde to the ground.
French defender Kounde had earlier scored Barca’s opener, but Mauro Arambarri’s equalizer meant Hansi Flick’s men were denied a decisive victory.
When Laporta was asked for his assessment this morning, he didn’t hold back. He said: “The referee at Getafe was a disgrace. It is a scandal not to impose this punishment on Koundé. A real scandal.”
💥 “The ARBITRATION in GETAFE was a disgrace.”
🔥 Brutal “RAJADA” from LAPORTA for the missed penalty against Koundé.
📹 @marccnunezz pic.twitter.com/WC1qWHqDpC
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) January 20, 2025
Madrid increases gap between Clasico rivals
Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Las Palmas yesterday means Barca sit third in the league table, seven points behind the European champions and five points behind Atletico Madrid.
Accusations of bias are not uncommon in Spain, particularly from Barcelona,
After the game, Flick focused more on the title race and insisted his team still had time to catch up.
The German said: “Winning the league is the hardest thing. But it’s not over yet, there are still some games left to play. We will fight until the end. Today we got an extra point but lost two points. However, we have to look forward and do better next time.”
Barca’s poor run in the league continues
Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final last weekend but have won just one of their last eight league games, their worst run in 17 years.
Flick added: “I’m not worried. I’m aware of the situation, I know we’ve lost a lot of points in the last few games, that’s not what we want and we can do much better. But in the end you can see that we started the season really well this new year and I’m happy about that.”
