Ronald Koeman, Barcelona coach, did not hide his anger at the end of the match with the defeat for his team against Real Madrid, and still acknowledged his team’s own mistakes “in the first half”, although he stressed that they are facing a ” very defensive rival “. , he complained very bitterly about the referee, especially about, in his opinion, “a very clear penalty to Braithwaite that was not whistled.”
The Barça coach started, before the Movistar Plus cameras showed unconcealed displeasure over an inexplicable complaint. “When you come from Barça, you have to be warm and unhappy about two decisions made by the referee. I just ask a referee to make his decisions right. The penalty is very clear. We have to be silent and that’s it”, Koeman concluded. without forgetting the time he took. The referee added at 90 minutes: “The extra time of four minutes, when the referee was two minutes because of his shoulder … I don’t know why.”
A few minutes later, in the press room, the speech of the Dutch coach was equally indignant. “The penalty kick is very clear, everyone has seen it and I don’t understand that a lineman ten yards away does not see it. The referee may not have been able to see it, but there is a VAR for situations like this, to help the players. help referees because the referee can’t see everything, “he emphasized, not wanting to go on but without stopping.
“I’m not alone. The players are sad about the referee’s decision. There are players who have been with Barça for many years and I don’t know how they should feel again,” he said. “I’ve also been a Barça player.” And preferred to close the topic from there. “Better not talk anymore. We lost the game, we tried to the last minute, with the Ilaix crossbar … But it was a penalty. I no longer want to comment on this issue. I have already told you what to do. Say, I defend against my team, against my club, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. ”
Regarding the game and the game against Barça, Koeman explained that he was facing a rival ‘far behind … It is easier to defend far behind than to risk it like us, but it is true that we did not do it in the first half. have done well. , we did not defend properly, we left spaces that we did not find during the attack and we did not hit the last pass. We have arrived safely, but we have not created any danger. “
“They defended well with so many players and they came off well in the counter-attack, which we were not able to defend well in the first half. When we play against a team that defends that far back and we lack depth, without spaces … Dembele had a few
occasions when it didn’t work out and we have to improve in the last pass, ‘acknowledged the Barcelona coach, who did not want to give up the league for a loss.
“There is still a lot left. We have fought and lost against a rival who is also fighting for the League, but there are nine games left; every game for the three of us will be difficult and we will fight in all the remaining games,” he says . stated, warning that from now on it is important “to think that we can win a title next week and that we should focus on that”.