BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona has lodged a second complaint to UEFA regarding the refereeing standards during their Champions League quarterfinal elimination at the hands of Atlético Madrid.
The La Liga champions are not accepting their exit quietly, asserting that referee mistakes in both legs of the tie have inflicted “significant sporting and financial damage to the club.”
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Atlético advanced to the semifinals with a 3-2 aggregate victory, setting up a matchup against Premier League team Arsenal.
“The club has submitted a complaint to UEFA concerning the refereeing performance in the Champions League tie against Atlético,” Barça stated in a Thursday release.
“The club believes that several officiating decisions made across both matches did not adhere to the Laws of the Game, resulting from improper application of the regulations and inadequate intervention by the VAR in crucial incidents.
“The culmination of these errors directly influenced the matches’ outcomes and caused considerable sporting and financial harm to the club.
“Through this complaint, the club reaffirms its previous requests to UEFA and offers to collaborate with them to enhance the refereeing system, ensuring a more stringent, fair, and transparent application of the Laws of the Game.”
Barcelona had previously filed a complaint with UEFA following the first leg, arguing that a penalty and red card should have been awarded when defender Marc Pubill, already on a yellow card, handled the ball after goalkeeper Juan Musso seemed to have resumed play.
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Earlier this week, UEFA declared that the initial complaint was “inadmissible“.
In their new statement, Barça did not specify the decisions they found objectionable, but club president Joan Laporta expressed a detailed list of grievances following Tuesday’s knockout.
Laporta criticized the red cards issued in both games — Pau Cubarsí in the first leg and Eric García in the second — suggesting they should have only received yellow cards; that a penalty should have been awarded to Dani Olmo; that Ferran Torres‘s disallowed offside goal was incorrectly ruled out; and that action should have been taken against Musso for injuring Fermín López when he kicked him.
“The refereeing was disgraceful,” the Barcelona president told reporters earlier this week.
“Following our first leg complaint, UEFA deemed it ‘inadmissible.’ We will seek further clarification. The club intends to submit another complaint as the real issue is what transpired on Tuesday once again.”