Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez criticised the officials after the Supercopa de Espana went to Athletic Bilbao.
Athletic took a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou after their 4-0 win at San Mames in a game that saw Gerard Pique given a straight red card for insulting an assistant referee.
“It wasn’t possible to recover but I want to congratulate the team because they played a good game with great effort,” AS reports Robert as saying.
“We knew it’d be difficult. I think there was a decision by the referee that hurt us a lot. It was very damaging to our interests. But I want to congratulate the team.
“Referees should think that a certain action by players can decide something. You should think before showing a straight red card.
“I thought we started well at San Mames, had phases of great football, but we were unlucky because we should have had a more favourable outcome from the first game and we should have been more comfortable.
“When you lose 4-0, the mood of the players is different.”
