Barcelona President Joan Laporta promises second UEFA complaint after ‘intolerable’ officiating

Barcelona President elect Joan Laporta has promised that the Catalan side will be filing a second official complaint to UEFA after their Champions League elimination at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. Barcelona have already had one complaint to UEFA rejected.

The Catalan side filed a complaint to UEFA over the officiating in the first leg, citing the decision not to give a penalty against Marc Pubill for touching the ball with his hand. UEFA rejected the complaint though, calling it ‘inadmissible‘. Speaking on Wednesday to MD, Laporta called it a disgrace that even the request for explanations was not heard.

“Filing a complaint is not allowed, and the response was that it was not allowed. What Barca is doing is asking for explanations as to why the complaint was not allowed. Yuste told me they will file another one. It’s a disgrace, intolerable.”

‘It was a disgrace, intolerable’ – Joan Laporta

While he started off by congratulating Atletico Madrid for reaching the semi-finals, Laporta quickly turned his ire on the officials.

“Yesterday’s refereeing, both on the pitch and by VAR, was a disgrace. What they did to us is intolerable; in the first leg, they didn’t award us a clear penalty and sent off one of our players for a yellow card offence,” he claimed.

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“The referee’s decisions have hurt us a lot. Eric wasn’t the last man because Kounde could have gotten there. The referee showed the yellow card, which was the right thing to do, and the VAR referee made him change his mind. Ferran’s goal was a goal. The penalty on Olmo was a penalty. The foul on Fermin was intolerable. Fermin’s face was cut open. Not even a card…”

UEFA-Barcelona relations had been improving

Following the Superleague, relations between Barcelona and UEFA had been improving. The Catalan side were one of the founding members of the breakaway competition, but left the competition earlier this season. Laporta also met twice with UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin to discuss UEFA’s disciplinary proceedings over Barelona’s accounting practices, with a fine reduced from €60m to €15m.

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