Atleti’s Gabi maintains innocence

Gabi has maintained his innocence after being sent off during half-time of Atletico Madrid's 3-2 defeat to Barcelona in their Copa del Rey quarter-final second leg.

Los Colchoneros' captain was given his marching orders ahead of the second half at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday following an incident with referee Jesus Gil Manzano.

"Well my words were 'Jesus, it was a penalty and a red card; you'll see on TV that you're wrong'," he said after the game.

"Then he yelled at me and said 'you're sent off'. I didn't say anything else to him.

"The team were outnumbered and it was noticeable in the second half.

"We all make mistakes, but we must acknowledge our errors, we certainly have to.

"[Referees] must take more responsibility and have more dialogue with the players.

"Nobody likes to lose, but we know [Neymar] sometimes likes to make gestures, especially when he's winning.

"We were prepared to attack, but Barcelona managed to finish off their counterattacks."

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La Liga - Club News