Barcelona have complained about some of the referee’s decisions after their 4-3 defeat against Inter in the spectacular second leg semifinal of the UEFA Champions League in San Siro. Thanks to the home win, the Nerazzurri will play the Champions League final that will take place on May 31 in Munich against he winner of the second semifinal that will take place on Wednesday in Paris between PSG and Arsenal. The tie between Inter and Barcelona (7-6 on aggregate) was one of the most incredible soccer events in the history of the game, marking one of the most exciting matches of in the history of the European tournament that was only decided at extra time with the winning goal of Davide Frattesi, after a late equalizer of Italian defender Francesco Acerbi. Barcelona manager Hansi Flick and Spanish midfielder Pedri were not happy about some of the decisions made by the referee of the game, Polish official Szymon Marciniak, who among other matches, was the referee of the FIFA 2022 World Cup final, and he’s considered one of the most experienced referees in the world.
The German head coach spoke after the game and said: “I think some decisions were 50-50, always for Inter, but it’s like that. We have to accept it, it’s football. We can be proud about our performance. Sometimes it’s like that, you feel a little bit unfair. Some decisions the referee made was maybe not on our side, but we have to accept it. We start again next season to win the Champions League. This is one of our goals. Maybe I said too much about the referees, so I also want to congratulate Inter, they did a great job in both games, and good luck in the final.”
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The Barcelona did not specify which episode they were referring with their claims. In the first half of the match, the Acerbi, who later scored the 3-3 equalizer in the stoppage time, seemed to have touched the ball with his hand, but then later the VAR decided not to intervene as his handball came after the ball also touched his body. Barcelona defender Gerard Martin claimed he was fouled in the build up to Inter’s late equalizer by Denzel Dumfries, while the VAR and Marciniak changed their decision in the last minute of the first half and awarded a penalty that was later scored by Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu.
Pedri was even stronger in his accusations: “It’s not the first time this happens to us with this referee, UEFA should look into it. Every 50-50 for them, there are things that I don’t understand and which are hard to explain. In the penalty on Lamine Yamal, which was after given as a free kick, there’s no booking for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, which would have been his second booking.”
Barcelona will face Real Madrid on Sunday, May 11, in one of the most awaited El Clasicos of the season as the team coached by Flick have a four-point margin on their historical rivals. On the other side, Inter will face Torino on the same day, but the Nerazzurri trail Antonio Conte’s Napoli by three points, with three matches left before the end of the 2024-25 season.