VIDEO: Barcelona only drew, Xavi was sent off for protesting and pushing the referee. It’s a shame, he complained. Excuses, countered the Getafe coach

Barcelona did not start the new edition of La Liga in the best way. The match was very heated and we saw three red cards.

Barcelona managed to sign all their reinforcements at the last minute and went into the first league round with Getafe with a full squad. But it was Getafe who could have taken the lead.

Already in the fourth minute, Latasa drove alone at the goal, and was tackled from behind by Koundé, but the referee didn’t call a penalty. On the other side, Oriol Romeu had a hopeful shot, but his attempt from outside the sixteen was just wide of the post.

In the 36th minute, the biggest chance of the match came. Koundé’s long pass behind the defence was worked by Raphinha, but he only hit Soria from an angle. However, he chested the ball straight at the Getafe defender, where it deflected onto the bar.

In the 42nd minute, however, disaster struck for the visitors. Raphinha elbowed a Getafe player completely off the ball and rightly saw a red card. But in the 58th minute, Mata fouled Araujo and since he had already received one yellow, he too deservedly went to the showers.

Moments later, the visitors could have finally taken the lead, but Lewandowski’s header was cleared off the line by Getafe defenders. In the 70th minute, after a long pass behind the defence, Ez Abde raced through on goal alone, his hands being a little unbalanced by Djen. But the referee did not blow his whistle.

But Xavi complained so vehemently and even elbowed the fourth official lightly that the head referee didn’t hesitate to award him a red card, his third of the match.

The Blaugranas then tried to score the leading goal, but neither Abde’s nor Fati’s shots were caught. In the 10th minute of the setup, a possible penalty for Barcelona was being explored and would have been played, only the VAR referee found the hand of an away player first in the action and therefore did not order a penalty kick.

The referee set 16 minutes because of the big interruption, but even that was not enough for the Barcelona coach. After the match, Xavi was very angry at the referee and the home team.

“I didn’t like the meeting with the referees last week and I didn’t like them today either. I think this is a disgrace, we need clean time in football, this is ridiculous,” Xavi complained at the press conference.

“I can’t keep quiet. If this is a product of La Liga, then it’s an absolute disgrace. I told the referee that he allows too many fouls. That’s why he sent me to the stands. I allowed myself to make a comment and I was sent off for it,” Xavi did not understand.

But Getafe coach José Bordalás completely disagreed with his opinion. “What Xavi is doing is just a form to cover up and excuse not winning with such a loaded team. After all, the most aggressive tackle was made by a Barcelona player,” Bordalás said at a press conference.

Source: La Liga, Youtube