Barcelona have been frequently punished by the authorities for overstepping the line with officials and even opposition benches this season. Once again against Barbastro on Sunday evening Barcelona’s bench got on the wrong side of both.
Xavi Hernandez and Oscar Hernandez were not popular with Barbastro, with the latter to seeing a red card from the referee for his complaints to the fourth official. Marca point out that Xavi has received 16 bookings for complaints since arriving at the Blaugrana as manager, and one red card. Brother and assistant manager Oscar Hernandez has seen red on three occasions, while assistant Sergio Alegre and goalkeeping coach Jose Ramon de la Fuente have both been dismissed once too.
This tallies with the fraying tempers at Barcelona this season, with Xavi becoming increasingly prickly with the press. After victory against Las Palmas last week, Xavi was the protagonist in probably the most uncomfortable press room scene during his era. On Cadena SER following the match, they were also critical of the Barcelona coaching staff, one journalist even noting that ‘the talk beignning to do the rounds is that the Barcelona bench is unbearable’, while it was added that with Xavi, there is always a ‘but’, or an excuse.
Felix was about three feet onside for his disallowed goal, and it just sort of deteriorated from there.
Xavi should probably calm down a little, but the officiating in the Barbastro match was amateur hour.
Delusions of grandeur are tough to deal with when you no longer have sporting success to back them up with.