Xavi: The referees have never helped us. Neither in Spain nor in Europe have they helped us to titles

Barcelona take on Manchester United on Thursday night for the Europa League 1/16 final. With Barcelona’s case of bribing referees resonating through Spain at the moment, Xavi has not avoided the issue.

Barcelona coach Xavi is often and fond of commenting on referees. As soon as he doesn’t like a decision on the pitch, he immediately comments on it in a press conference.

Last Thursday, when Barcelona welcomed Manchester United to the Camp Nou, was no exception. There were two questionable situations in the match, one a possible red card for the Barcelona defender for pulling down Rashford who was running alone at goal and one a possible penalty for the Culés when the ball hit Fred’s hand in the whitewash.

Xavi, however, chose only the second moment in the press conference. “Fred’s hand? It’s a perfectly clear penalty. They didn’t give us a penalty in the Champions League in Milan, I don’t know what more we have to do for that. And on top of that they tell us they checked it on VAR, it’s unbelievable, unbelievable,” Xavi complained.

With the Negreira case resonating in Spain at the moment, questions on referees are quite common. In fact, Barcelona paid the vice-president of the Referees Commission 1.7 million euros in 2016-2018. Both parties said that it was for technical advice on how to treat referees and how each referee behaves on the pitch.

However, it casts a bit of a shadow over the whole case that Ernesto Valverde, then Barcelona coach, said he was unaware of any reports about referees. So who else should receive them but the head coach?

So the question on referees was not to be missed before the duel with Manchester United. Xavi, however, does not feel patronised by the referee.

“I never felt that the referees helped me. Not in Europe, not in Spain. I never felt that referees helped us win titles,” Xavi is sure.

Barcelona leads La Liga by eight points, but wants to succeed in the Europa League too. How would Xavi feel about a possible relegation?

“We can’t drop out of any competition. We are Barca. We can’t choose. It would be a huge disappointment to be out,” the Catalan coach added.

Source: MARCA, Barcelona