Barcelona president Joan Laporta criticized the level of refereeing during the 1-1 draw with Getafe on Saturday, describing the decision not to award a late penalty kick to his team as a “scandal”.
Barcelona was angry when match referee Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes and video assistant referee Francisco Jose Hernandez Maiso failed to award a penalty kick after Cristante Uche appeared to drag Jules Kounde to the ground eight minutes before the end of the match.
French defender Kounde had earlier opened the scoring for Barcelona but Mauro Arambarri's equalizer meant Hansi Flick's men were denied a decisive win.
Speaking this morning, Laporta did not hesitate when asked for his assessment. He said: “The arbitration in Getafe was a disgrace. It is a scandal not to describe this punishment for Condé. “A real scandal.”
💥 “The refereeing in Getafe was a disgrace.”
🔥 The brutality of “Rajada” from Laporta due to the penalty kick that Kounde did not take.
📹 @marccnunezz pic.twitter.com/WC1qWHqDpC
– Elchiringuitot TV (@elchiringuitotv) January 20, 2025
Madrid widens the gap between its rivals in El Clásico
After Real Madrid's 4-1 victory over Las Palmas yesterday, Barcelona occupied third place in the Spanish League table, seven points behind the European champions and five points behind Atletico Madrid.
Accusations of bias are not uncommon in Spain, especially from Barcelona given Madrid's traditional role as the country's capital and power base.
After the match, Flick focused more on the title race and insisted there was still time for his team to catch up.
The German said: “Winning the league is the most difficult thing. But it's not over yet, there are still some games to play. We will fight until the end. Today we got an extra point, but we wasted two points. However, we have to look forward and do better next time.”
Barcelona's poor performance in the league continues
Barcelona thrashed Real Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final last weekend, but have won just one of their last eight league games, their worst run in 17 years.
Flick added: “I'm not worried. I'm aware of the situation, and I know that we lost a lot of points in the last matches, and that's not what we want, and we can do much better. But in the end, you can see that we started the season really well, in This is the new year, and I'm happy about that.
