Ref to Messi: 'Do you know the rules of football or not?'

Recently played El Classico was an excellent match, but the aftermath is great either. As we often said, the only good thing about Covid-19 pandemic is that the microphones pick up every word from players, since there are no fans at the stadium. And you can imagine what was heard between players and the referee after a penalty controversy at the end of the Real-Barcelona derby.

The day after the big match, there were two interesting situations, both including the referee Gil Manzano. The first one was obviously his decision not to award the penalty after Mendy’s contact with Braithwaite. What was even worse for the Catalonians, Manzano didn’t even bother to consult VAR. The Barcelona players were obviously annoyed, and captain Lionel Messi was arguing with the ref, saying „Referee show respect, speak well“ to which Manzano replied:

„Do you know the rules of football or not? If you don't, then I'll explain them to you later". It’s interesting to know that referee Manzano is the only referee in Spain to give Messi a red card in his career in Coppa Del Rey in January this year.

Manzano’s decision to not to award more extra time at the end of the match also frustrated Barcelona players, especially coach Ronald Koeman, and Gerard Pique, who missed the match due to injury, but still got involved. Pique was only on the bench but still deemed it necessary to approach the referee at full-time. Luka Modric noticed he was queuing up for the referee and footage picked up the Croatian mocking his opponent, asking "You're waiting for the ref to complain huh?"

Midfielder Sergi Roberto also spoke of his frustration after the match.

"I was right in front of it and he touches him. What bothers me most is that they didn't look at it again. Then it's just his interpretation. I was surprised that he said there wasn't anything in it so quickly. There are a lot of games left and we're going to fight until the end" said Roberto.

Benzema's magic touch shuts down Barca in El Clasico

A defeat in EL Clasico has obviously not gone down well with Barcelona, since they have fallen to the third place in La Liga, behind Real and Atletico Madrid.