Busquets: Barca under a microscope

Sergio Busquets has said that refereeing errors that appear to favour Barcelona are treated differently than ones that go against them.

The midfielder was referring to the perceived mistake by Jonas Eriksson, the referee in charge of Barca’s Champions League win over Manchester City on Tuesday.

Eriksson awarded Barca a penalty and sent off Martin Demichelis for fouling Lionel Messi but some observers felt Busquets fouled Jesus Navas in the run-up to the incident.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini was particularly vocal in putting forth that argument and Busquets feels that when Barca benefit from a referee’s mistake, it’s talked about more than when Barca are the victims.

“It gets more attention when the referee makes a mistake in our favour than when it goes against us,” Busquets told a Press conference.

“Sometimes we’ve lost out and other times we’ve benefited.

“I don’t think I fouled Navas, it’s pretty clear.”

Busquets added that Barca were surprised by City’s tactics and don’t expect a repeat at Camp Nou.

“Aleksandar Kolarov playing on the wing was surprising,” he said.

“Maybe in the English league they find it easier, but the Champions League is different.

Things didn’t turn out well for them, but they didn’t have a bad match, either.

They stood up to be counted. In the second leg we expect a more attacking City and they'll be looking to score goals from the first whistle.”

The other last 16 tie played this week saw Bayern Munich beat Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and Busquets believes the Germans, Coached by his mentor Pep Guardiola, are rightly the favourites to win the competition.

“They’re always favourites, both because of the players they have and their coach.

“They’re in a good position in their tie against a difficult opponent.

“If Bayern go through and we’re drawn against them, I’m sure it’ll be a great tie. I’d really like it.”

Tags Busquets Manchester City
La Liga - Club News