FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has said what happened in Real Madrid’s 3-2 win against Almeria … [+]
FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta called what occurred in the Bernabeu during Real Madrid’s 3-2 win over Almeria a “disgrace” at the Mundo Deportivo Grand Gala on Monday evening.
The Catalans’ eternal enemies in El Clasico were losing 2-0 to their bottom of the league visitors at half time on Sunday afternoon.
With VAR intervening three times to overturn calls in favor of the same team for the first time in La Liga this season, however, Madrid prevailed and temporarily returned to the top of the table via Dani Carvajal’s 99th minute winner.
Almeria manager Gaizka Garitano was sent off for his protests towards the end of the proceedings and said post-match he had “no words” for what went down in the Spanish capital.
“It’s not the first time something like this has happened to me here,” he added, with Barca opposite number Xavi Hernandez later confirming he “shared” Garitano’s views.
“I already said in Getafe that it was going to be very difficult to win this league,” Xavi explained.
“There are people who don’t remember but I think we could have six more points in this championship.
“I remember the penalty in the Coliseum, the resounding penalty against Raphinha, Joao Felix’s goal in Granada… They are not excuses, they are realities, 95th minute situations that always come up … There are things that we do not control, everyone has seen it today.”
At the Mundo Deportivo Grand Gala, Laporta mirrored his head coach’s remarks by strongly stating: “What happened at the Bernabeu was a disgrace.”
“I think that the refereeing collective has to respond to a series of pressures that have occurred throughout the season with the referees,” Laporta suggested.
“If they do not respond, they leave us very uneasy. Because we understand that there is an abandonment of functions.
“In any case, I’m happy because we won yesterday,” Laporta went on, referring to the Blaugrana’s 4-2 victory over Real Betis.
“We feel stronger and more cohesive, but what we want is for there to be sporting rewards and on a day that we could have cut points [i.e. Madrid’s lead over them in the table].
“[However] due to a refereeing decision, due to a VAR re-refereeing, it has not happened.”
Despite recent setbacks which include losing the Spanish Super Cup final to Madrid the weekend before last, Laporta believes that Xavi’s team is “improving”.
“It feels stronger and we have more unity in the dressing room, and we also see that we are recovering the injured players.
“Marc-Andre [Ter Stegen] will soon be able to rejoin [the squad]. We have players of excellent quality like Robert [Lewandowski] and all those who make up the Barca first team.
“I’m very optimistic because I think we’ll get our reward and that the other rivals are going to stumble like we stumbled at the beginning of the season.
“What we are doing is working, fighting day by day, to stay in all the competitions to try and win them,” Laporta concluded.
