‘Don’t want to talk much about referee, every 50-50 decision went Inter’s way’: Barca manager Flick after UCL semis loss
An upset Barcelona manager, Hansi Flick, criticised refereeing decisions in his side’s 4-3 loss against Inter Milan in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) that stopped the Catalans reaching their first Champions League final in a decade after an extra-time goal by home substitute Davide Frattesi.
“I don’t want to talk too much about the referee, but every decision that was 50-50 went (Inter’s) way,” said Flick after the match. The German criticised Polish referee Szymon Marciniak, who had a busy night in the semi-final, second leg at San Siro, with Inter advancing 7-6 on aggregate to face the winner of Paris Saint-Germain vs Arsenal.
Marciniak awarded Inter a penalty after a VAR review for a challenge by Pau Cubarsi on Lautaro Martinez that he did not deem an infringement and later reversed a decision he had signalled as a spot kick for Barcelona, with VAR saying Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s foul on Lamine Yamal was just outside the box.
Barca were at the cusp of the win after they roared back from two goals down to grab a 3-2 lead with Raphinha’s goal in the 87th minute, however, Inter equalised through Francesco Acerbi in added time to stay alive before scoring the extra-time winner.
Barca’s players and bench also complained about what they thought was handball inside the box by Inter defender Acerbi and a foul by fullback Denzel Dumfries on Gerard Martin in the build-up to the equaliser, which took the game to extra time.
Not disappointed with the team
“I am disappointed, but not with my team. They tried everything. It’s the way it is. We are out, but next year we will try again to make the fans happy. It makes me sad … My team did an excellent job. I don’t like talking about the referee … I’ve told him what I think, but I’m not going to say it here what I’ve said…” he added.
Barca were chasing a treble after winning the Copa del Rey, but will now turn their focus to La Liga, where they top the table and on Sunday host rivals Real Madrid, who trail them by four points with four games to go.
(With inputs from wires)
