Barcelona president Joan Laporta has slammed the standard of refereeing during Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Getafe, calling the decision not to award his side a late penalty a “scandal”.
Barca were furious when match official Pablo Gonzalez Fuertes and VAR Francisco Jose Hernandez Maeso failed to award a spot-kick after Christantus Uche appeared to drag Jules Kounde to the ground eight minutes from time.
French defender Koundé had already opened the scoring for Barca, but Mauro Arambarri’s leveler meant Hansi Flick’s men were denied a crucial victory.
Speaking this morning, Laporta didn’t hold back when asked for his assessment. He said: “The refereeing at Getafe was a disgrace. Not inflicting this penalty on Koundé is a scandal. A real scandal.
💥 “The ARBITRAJE en GETAFE fue una VERGÜENZA”.
🔥 Brutal ‘RAJADA’ by LAPORTA by the penalti no pitado in Koundé.
📹 @marccnunezz pic.twitter.com/WC1qWHqDpC
– El Chiringuito Television (@elchiringuitotv) January 20, 2025
Madrid widen gap between Clasico rivals
Real Madrid’s 4-1 victory over Las Palmas yesterday means Barca are third in the La Liga table, seven points behind the European champions and five behind Atletico Madrid.
Accusations of bias in Spain are not uncommon, particularly in Barcelona, given Madrid’s traditional role as the capital and power base in the country.
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 championship is the most difficult thing. But it’s not over, there are still a few games to play. We will fight until the end. Today we got one more point, but we lost two. However, we must look forward and do better next time.
Barça’s poor run in the league continues
Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final last weekend, but have won just one of their last eight league matches, their worst run in 17 years.
Flick added: “I’m not worried. I’m aware of the situation, I know we’ve lost a lot of points in the last few games, that’s not what we want and we can do a lot better. But in the end, you see that we started the season very well, in this new year, and I am happy with that.
