Ernesto Valverde felt Luis Suarez should have received a second yellow card as Barcelona dumped Athletic Bilbao out of the Copa del Rey.
Barca won the second leg at Camp Nou 3-1 after the first leg finished 2-1 to the Catalans at San Mames, Athletic bowing out at the quarter-final stage, the tie having been preceded by a League meeting Barca took 6-0 against 10 men.
“We’re happy with the three games we played, including the 6-0,” Valverde said, AS reports.
“We had some heavy legs in the second half because of the effort in the first half. Barca is a tough opponent but we put them in trouble at times.
“I thought Barca were effective beyond how good they are. But in the tie itself we were lacking something in our effectiveness.
“We knew we had to play a great game to go through. You can only do that if you try to.”
Valverde was asked if he felt Luis Suarez was fortunate to stay on the pitch for the full 90 minutes after an alleged handball.
“We think he should have had a red card but I imagine the referee knows more than we do of the regulations,” he conceded.
“I don’t want to talk much about the referee either.”
