FC Barcelona suffered its second defeat in a row in Girona, with the referee once again taking center stage for the Catalans. Hansi Flick was particularly angry, breaking off an interview prematurely.
The bone of contention was a scene in the run-up to Girona’s 2-1 winning goal. In the 86th minute, Claudio Echeverri laid the ball a tad too far in front of him 18 meters in front of the goal. The former Leverkusen player, who was sprinting behind him, still managed to get a touch on the ball before Jules Koundé, who had moved in, got there. However, Echeverri then clearly stepped on the foot of the Barcelona right-back, who remained on the ground holding his ankle. Immediately afterwards, Fran Beltran scored to make it 2-1 – with Koundé still lying on the ground just a meter behind him.
The VAR did not intervene in the situation, although Girona had no reason to complain. Even Echeverri later admitted, after taking a quick look at the scene, that a whistle would have been understandable, “but fortunately that didn’t happen.”
In an interview with DAZN, Flick then asked the reporter for his opinion, but he did not want to express it. “Then I don’t have one either,” said Flick with an ironic smile on his lips. “Then I have nothing to say. Thank you very much.” Flick was gone.
At the subsequent press conference, the 60-year-old was asked about the Koundé scene again. “How did you see it? Was it a foul?” he asked a journalist, who this time answered yes. “Thank you, I agree,” said Flick. “If we had played well, I would have talked more about it, but I don’t want to focus on the situation surrounding the second goal. We have to play better and get back to our best form.”
It was indeed a deserved defeat for Barcelona, who missed too many chances and were shaky at the back. It was neither surprising nor unjustified that goalkeeper Joan Garcia was named man of the match, as the Catalan keeper had to thwart a whole series of great chances. Once again, the high defense looked prone to mistakes, with the offside trap failing to snap shut on several occasions.
Barcelona’s complaint to no avail
These were scenes that had already been seen in the cup semifinal first leg at Atletico Madrid (0-4). In last Thursday’s game, which marked the beginning of “Barca’s five darkest days” (Marca), the Blaugrana were also at odds with the referee. The VAR spent seven minutes reviewing a goal by Pau Cubarsi before concluding that he was offside. Flick called the whole process a “disaster,” and the club lodged a formal complaint with the Spanish Football Federation. Among other things, Barcelona denounced double standards, and the Catalans were also dissatisfied with the “application and transparency of VAR.”
But the bitter decisions against Barcelona cannot hide the fact that there is friction within the team. This is not the first time this season; in the fall, Flick’s team took a creative break and was five points behind Real Madrid at one point. Now they are two points behind again.
“Our positioning was not good, especially in midfield,” Flick analyzed. “We made too many mistakes. We are currently in a phase where we are not playing well.” Two days off should now help to clear their heads. “The players need these days off because they are tired,” Flick continued. On Sunday (4:15 p.m.), Barcelona will face UD Levante, who are second from bottom in the table.