Laporta: “The refereeing has been a shame, what they have done to us is inadmissible”

“Let’s see, first of all what I want is to congratulate Atlético de Madrid for reaching the semifinals, but this does not mean that yesterday’s refereeing, both by the referee and the VAR, was a shame, a shame. What they have done to us is intolerable,” Laporta told the media in the Village of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

Laporta also regretted that in the first leg, 0-2 for Atlético de Madrid at the Spotify Camp Nou, they did not call in Barça’s favor a penalty that “was a textbook one” and he also assured that the expulsion of Pau Cubarsí “was a yellow card.”

The leader, who will take office again as president on July 1 after winning the March 15 elections, insisted that the VAR’s performance was decisive in several actions.

“Giuliano did not have the ball under control, therefore it was yellow. The referee whistled well, but the VAR made him correct it and gave a red card that hurt us a lot. It has been a tie in which the referee’s decisions have hurt us a lot and the same thing happened in the second leg,” he said.

In that sense, he denounced another expulsion in the second leg. “We have sent off a player when Koundé could perfectly reach the ball, Eric Garcia was not the last man. The referee whistled the yellow card, which was what was appropriate, and the VAR made him rectify another wrong decision,” he noted.

Laporta also criticized several specific actions in the match at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, which this Tuesday ended with a victory (1-2) for Barça, insufficient to overcome. “Ferran’s goal (alonged) was a goal, the penalty against Olmo was a penalty. The attack on Fermín, value it however you want, but that was intolerable, because they opened the entire part of Fermín’s lip from the top. He is a kid who was suffering when they were stitching him up and not even a card. It is not admissible,” he said.

The president-elect announced that the club has already started formal movements. “We presented a complaint and the response was that the complaint was not admissible. Now we are asking for explanations. A complaint will be made again because what is not admissible is what they did to us again yesterday. These are decisions that have been very detrimental to the interests of Barça and it is intolerable. It is a shame,” he reiterated.

Furthermore, he recalled recent precedents. “If I go back to last year, we were also eliminated after a great game at Inter’s field due to a goal in which there was a previous foul on Gerard Martín. It bothers a lot, as a culé fan,” he said, emphasizing that he speaks “like a culé”, although he holds the position of elected president, since the official president of FC Barcelona is Rafa Yuste.

Despite everything, Laporta assumed that the tie no longer has a solution. “Unfortunately, even if a complaint is filed, the quarterfinals are already decided and Barça will not be able to be there,” he lamented, before asking to focus on LaLiga. “Now what we have to do is concentrate on LaLiga. If we manage to win this League, which has been very hard-fought, and we add it to last year’s, it would be two consecutive Leagues,” he explained.

Finally, he rejected criticism about alleged referee favoritism towards Barça. “To say that the referees favor Barça is shameless. They only have to look at this Champions League tie. It’s a shame, no one believes it,” concluded Laporta.