Barcelona boss Xavi Hernandez could not hide his frustration as he fumed at the refereeing decisions in their 1-0 Champions League loss to Inter.

The La Liga side dominated possession but were unable to break down a dogged Inter side, although they were on the wrong end of two controversial VAR decisions.

Pedri thought he had equalised in the second half, only for VAR to rule out the goal for an Ansu Fati handball in the build-up. In the second half, Inter defender Denzel Dumfries appeared to handle the ball in his own box but, once again, VAR ruled against Barça.

Both decisions left Xavi absolutely incensed, and he made no attempt to hide his anger after the match.

“I’m p****d off,” Xavi admitted. “The referees should come out and explain their decisions, because we don’t understand anything.

“We should not have lost this game. We deserved to win but the referee had other ideas. I can also tell Inter manipulated the height of the grass to slow the ball’s pace which affected our passes.

“I’m angry by what we had to live through. It is an injustice. I do not understand anything. He didn’t want to give me explanations at the end of the game.

“I am angry and I think it is unfair.”

Xavi did concede that Inter were worthy of some credit for what was ultimately a finely executed game plan. The Italian side were disciplined in midfield and defended their box superbly, and even through his heightened frustration Xavi was happy to acknowledge that.

“They defended very well,” he said. “We could not play well from the middle.”

Credit: 90min.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *