October 5, (THEWILL) – The refereeing in Barcelona’s UEFA Champions League encounter against Inter has become the subject of a formal complaint to UEFA from the Spanish club.
In a match marked by contentious official calls, the Catalan team fell to their Italian opponents by a score of 1-0. During the game, after Ansu Fati’s alleged handball had caused Pedri’s equaliser to be struck off, Denzel Dumfries handled the ball in the Inter penalty area, but Barca were not awarded a penalty.
The Camp Nou side also thought that Hakan Calhanoglu ought to have been dismissed for a foul on Sergio Busquets, despite having another penalty appeal waved away after Robert Lewandowski was pushed in the opposition box.
After the game, Xavi made it plain how “outraged” he felt about the referee calls. Now, the club is taking the situation a step further by putting together an official complaint that will be forwarded to the governing body with the major target of the complaint being Pol van Boekel, who served as the VAR for both the team’s loss to Bayern Munich and the encounter against Inter.
Barcelona feels that they were also wrongfully refused a penalty in that game, and they think that Van Boekel making the same calls in both matches may not have been a coincidence at all. It has left Barca in third place in the group ahead of meeting Inter at Camp Nou next Wednesday.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
