FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández complained about ‘unfair refereeing’ towards his club after striker Vitor Roque was sent off in Saturday’s 3-1 win against Alavés.
Xavi believes the poor officiating is due to the club being investigated for alleged corruption in the relationship with the former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing body, José María Enríquez Negreira.
Roque received his marching orders on thr 72nd minute after coming on as a second half substitute. Roque, who scored Barca’s third goal, received two yellow cards.
“It’s a refereeing error against us — it’s just an unfair dismissal, if we are being honest,” Xavi, who said Barça will appeal the red card, said in a news conference.
“I just ask the referees to let us compete in LaLiga. This is another case of a clear mistake against Barça. Everyone can see the reality.
“We are paying for the Negreira case, absolutely no doubt. But that’s it, I am not going to speak about referees anymore,” said Xavi as quoted by ESPN Sport.
An investigation into these damning allegations revealed that Barca had paid companies linked to Negreira over €7 million ($7.6m) across 18 years.
Barca maintained that they were purchasing technical reports into refereeing and never bought match officials or influence.
Earlier in the week, the Barca coach criticised nemesis Real Madrid and accused their studio (Real Madrid TV) for trying to influence referee decisions.
Xavi was happy for securing back to back victories in La Liga.
“It’s always positive to win. After my decision, that’s back-to-back wins, so there’s the team’s reaction for you.
“Alavés had chances, but we were clinical, which is what we have lacked this season. We were good with and without the ball and it is a result that strengthens us in the fight (league),” added Xavi.
