Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho suggested that there is a refereeing conspiracy in favour of Barcelona following Real Madrid’s 2-0 loss to the Catalan side at the Santiago Bernabeu.
German referee Wolfgang Stark showed Pepe a straight red card in the 61st minute last night, which was arguably harsh and left Mourinho’s side playing against Barcelona with 10 men for the fourth time this season.
Both Chelsea and Arsenal have had their individual gripes with UEFA’s officiating against Barcelona in the past. In Chelsea’s case the most prominent example was the ridiculous officiating of Tom Henning Ovrebo in the second leg of our Champions League semi-final against Barca in 2009.
The Gooners felt aggrieved after meeting Barcelona at the Camp Nou in the final sixteen of this season’s competition after a few dubious decisions led to Robin van Persie’s sending off, although they cannot complain too much as they were soundly battered by Pep Guardiola’s side.
But neither the Chelsea nor Arsenal manager entertained theories over a pro-Barca conspiracy.
Carlo Ancelotti said:
“The referee can make mistakes and I want to think that everything is okay, everything is clear, because this is my work
“Obviously, there are mistakes in football, referees, players, coaches, but there is no conspiracy.
“Stark is not a referee who can be intimidated. He has a strong personality. He’s a very good referee. Maybe he did a mistake yesterday.”
Arsene Wenger also refused to believe that Barcelona are given an unfair advantage:
“I refuse to believe that because the day I believe that, it is impossible to manage.
“This season, they [Barcelona ] certainly had some advantages. I feel that they were accidental.
“When a manager comes out of a big game like that, and you have a disappointment, you have to accept that you can sometimes go a bit too far.
“But I refuse to believe that there is, let’s say, a script behind the stage and that Barcelona is advantaged.
“I feel that they over-react, certainly, but they play certainly the best football at the moment in Europe and you have to give them credit for that.”
(SkySports)
But after spending some time on Twitter last night, it seems as though that there’s plenty of fans who would beg to differ, and even more fans who were generally unimpressed by the antics of the La Liga giants last night.
It certainly didn’t provide a good advert for the Spanish game as both sides seemed more hell-bent on trying to con the referee, dive, cheat, fight, bitch and feign injury, than actually playing football.
Are Ancelotti and Wenger right, or does Jose Mourinho have a point about UEFA’s supposed favouritism towards Barcelona?
I think that barca and man united are always favourd, they both fantastic teams however, people pay attention to these things and so they don’t go unnoticed. sometimes I think the referees or top fifa managers are in barca and united pockets
WOW! I’m just so blown away by people not taking about the ugly way that Madrid have played the past 3 Classicos. Now that to me is much, much worse then what ever Barca may, or not have done. I’m not a huge fan of either of them, rather a big fan of the game, but Madrid under Mourinho have become one of the ugliest side I’ve ever seen!!
The cheap kick-the-guy-a-few-times-while-his-down-when-the-ref-isen’t-looking-tactiks is a CRIME against football! Plane and simple! Maybe the red card this time was too harsh, but Madrid has been getting away with murder in some of the games I’ve seen them in! Total disgrace!!
So they definitely have NOTHING to complain about this time around!! Karma has come and bitten them in the a**!!
yeah i will say, uefa more often than not give barca an unnecessary advantage which is unhealthy 4 football…. Take a second look @ barca vs arsenal 2011, chelsea vs barca 2009, & now madrid vs barca, it’s high time platini put an end to all these…
i tnk it was sheer wickedness.i tnk barca has always bn favored.if not 4 red card they wnt win crucial games.remember barca vs arsenal final,barca vs chelsea twice,barca vs madrid thrice.ah,its unfair.uefa shld do smtn.
Barca in football is like PDP in Nigerian election ! U may win bt they rule ! Erase platini nd barca will be Arsenal simple.
i like the way you think GoonerStorm, You sound smart. But i disagree with what you’re saying. Pepe didn’t deserve a red card last night, but he got it just because he was playing against Barcelona. The refs are always in favour of barcelona
To say the true barca are always favour by ref. In many crucial game why? are they only team in comptition. It is unjust so platini should do something.
in my opinion barca has always being favoured, remember arsenal vs barca final or chelsea vs barca 2009? These results and officiating goes down to… What punishment does d ref get? Why are players and manager nt allowed to voice their mind? I smell some kind of back stage meetings, platini and co. Dont make things go worse
@Sean without an H
You have the right to disagree, of course! And I do hate the way Barca players ended up face down on the grass all the time and every tackle seemed to a yellow card, in their opinion… but still Madrid, over the course of the 3 Classicos, behaved more like rugby players rather then world class footballers! And for me there is no excuse! If you´re going to loose, at least go out in stile and put the other team in shame just by behaving gentleman like.
IMO the only way to play against a anti-football team that Madrid has become, is to play (sorry to say…) the way Barca played! They, in effect, used Madrid-tacticks against them, and then put in some of their own flair and made them pay for playing dirty the past 3 games!
Even though I really didn’t like Barca plying the way they did, I salut them for teaching Mourinho a lesson!! And I hope they knock Madrid out of CL.
If anyone believes the refs are neutral when Barca are playing, then they must have been living on another planet for the past 3 years.
Mourinho is 100% correct. There is no accountability with the officials,managers and players are NOT allowed an opinion. It will go on and on until changes are made in that prehistoric organization they call uefa. Move with the times for goodness sake.