Barcelona was eliminated in the čquarterfinals Champions League after it is PSG won 4-1 at Montjuic and thus overturned the goal deficit from the first game played in Paris. The match started brilliantly for the champion of Spain, who took the lead in the 12th minute thanks to a goal. Raphinhe but everything went downhill with a red card Ronald Araujo in the 29th minute.
The Uruguayan was the last gameč Barcelona’s defense when he brought down Bradley Barcola, who was racing towards Ter-Stegen and had a promising goal opportunity. Although the situation happened on the edge of the penalty area, referee Istvan Kovacs did not point to the penalty spot, and Araujo was excluded from the game.
By the way, Kovacs is the same referee who was recently supposed to referee the Adriatic derby between Rijeka and Hajduk in Rujevica. The Romanian, however, canceled his arrival due to an injury, and was replaced by his compatriot Horatiu Fesnic.
In the 56th minute, Kovacs showed another red card, but this time to Barcelona’s coach Xavi, who žreacted a lot to a refereečs decision with which he did not agree, so in anger he kicked the camera stand next to lawn.
After the match, the Spanish strategist did not hide his displeasure with referee Kovacs.
– I’m angry! That red card (Araujo in the 29th minute, op. a.) changed the game. In 11 on 11 situations, we were excellent. Everything changed then. My opinion is that the red card was excessive in that situation, and after that we watched another match – said Xavi after the match.
Then he revealed what he had said to Kovacs when he came down from the lounge after the game. The cameras caught Xavi saying something to Romania.
– I told the referee that he was very bad, that he was disastrous and that he does not understand football. He killed the game, he changed everything. I don’t like to talk about referees… But I had to say this, I must not remain silent – he concluded.