Barcelona president Joan Laporta has blasted the standard of refereeing during Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Getafe, describing the decision not to award a late penalty for his side as a “scandal”.
Barca were incensed 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 floor with eight minutes to go.
France defender Kounde had earlier opened the scoring for Barca but Mauro Arambarri’s leveller meant Hansi Flick’s men were denied a crucial win.
Speaking this morning, Laporta did not hold back when asked for his assessment. He said: “The refereeing in Getafe was a disgrace. Not calling that penalty on Koundé is a scandal. A proper scandal.”
💥 “El ARBITRAJE en GETAFE fue una VERGÜENZA”.
🔥 Brutal ‘RAJADA’ de LAPORTA por el penalti no pitado a Koundé.
📹 @marccnunezz pic.twitter.com/WC1qWHqDpC
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) January 20, 2025
Madrid extend gap between Clasico rivals
Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over Las Palmas yesterday means Barca are third in the Liga table, seven points behind the European champions and five adrift of Atletico Madrid.
Accusations of bias in Spain are not uncommon, particularly from Barcelona given Madrid’s traditional role as capital and the base of power in the country.
After the game, 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 dropped two points. However, we have to look forward and do better next time.”
Barca’s poor league run 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, I know that we’ve dropped a lot of points in the last games, that’s not what we want, and we can do much better. But in the end, you can see that we’ve started the season really well, in this new year, and I’m happy about that.”
