Ronald KoemanThe Barcelona coach did not hide his anger at the end of the game 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 faced a very rival defensive ”, he complained very bitterly about the refereeing, especially about, in his opinion,“ a very clear penalty for Braithwaite who was not whistled ”.
The Barça coach started, before the cameras from Movistar Plus showed an undisguised dissatisfaction with a complaint without concealment. “If you are from Barça, you have to be hot and dissatisfied with two decisions of the referee. I only ask a referee to correct his decisions. The penalty is very clear. We have to be silent and ready,” said Koeman, without looking at the time the Referee added to 90 minutes: “The four-minute overtime, when the referee had two minutes because of his shoulder … I don’t know why.”
A few minutes later, in the press room, the Dutch coach’s speech was just as outraged. “The penalty is very clear, everyone has seen it and I don’t understand that a lineman who is ten meters away doesn’t 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. referees because the referee can’t see everything, “he stressed, without wanting to move on, but without stopping.
“I’m not the only one who is like that. The players are sad about the referee’s decision. There are players who have been at Barça for many years and I don’t know how they should feel again,” he said, noting that “I was a player too. Barça player. ” And I prefer to close the subject from there. “Better not talk anymore. I lost the game, I tried until the last moment, with the Ilaix crossbar … But it was a penalty. I don’t want to comment on this issue anymore. I’ve already said what I have to say; I defend my team, my club and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. “
Regarding the game and the Barça game, Koeman explained that he faced a rival “many behind … It is easier to defend with many behind than to risk like us, but it is true that in the first half we were good, we didn’t defend ourselves well, we left spaces that we didn’t find in the attack and we didn’t hit the last pass. I arrived well, but I did not create danger. “
“They defended well with so many players and they came out well on the counterattack, so we didn’t manage to defend well in the first half. When we play against a team that defends so much backwards and we lack depth, without spaces … Dembélé he had a few
occasions in which he was not successful and we have to improve in the last pass ”admitted the Barcelona coach, who did not want to give up the League for the loss.
“There is a lot left. We fought and lost against a rival that also fights for the League, but there are nine more games; each game for the three of us will be difficult and we will fight in all the remaining games,” he said. he said, warning that from now on it is important “to think that we can win a title next week and we need to focus on this”.