Barça just don't want to get on their feet in the Champions League. For the second year in a row, the Catalan giants are threatened with the less than glorious elimination of the preliminary round. Robert Lewandowski is playing there now. But the ex-Bayern star only meets nationally. And then there is another scandal.
Robert Lewandowski swallowed his frustration without a word, but his boss let his anger run free. "I'm angry, I can't hide it. That's an injustice!" Scolded coach Xavi after FC Barcelona's bitter 1-0 (0-1) draw at Inter Milan in Bayern Munich's Champions League group.
What happened? The newspaper "Mundo Deportivo" summed up Xavi's anger under the title "Hands up!" aptly together. The supposed equalizer by Pedri (67th) was denied after a handball by Ansu Fati. However, when Inter's Denzel Dumfries also went for the ball with his hand in the Milan penalty area (90.3), the penalty whistle was not called.
"The referee should explain himself but he just went home," Xavi rumbled. Mundo Deportivo wrote of a "scandalous" refereeing performance, according to Spanish media Barca are considering filing a complaint against Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic with UEFA.
"We still have three finals left," said Xavi, referring to the tricky situation in Group B, where Barca (three points) are struggling to advance behind Bayern (nine) and Inter (six). Particularly worrying: "The dependency on Lewandowski is becoming more and more obvious" ("Mundo Deportivo"). If the world footballer scores, as in seven of his ten competitive games so far, Barça wins. If he goes empty like on Tuesday evening, like three times so far, it's enough for a point at most.
In Milan he fired just one shot on goal and was otherwise up in the air. Lewandowski didn't even have to be fouled. Barça "is nothing without Lewandowski goals", wrote "Sport". So the goal for Inter remained from former Leverkusen player Hakan Calhanoglu (45.2) - and Xavi raged.
