Barcelona Blog
n the first leg of the 16th round of the European League championship, Thursday evening, at the Camp Nou stadium, in the presence of a massive crowd of more than 90,000 spectators.
The decision was postponed to the return match, which will be played next Thursday, February 23, at Old Trafford. Xavi enters that match without Javi, who received a yellow card and confirmed his absence due to the accumulation of cards. The Catalan coach hopes that Osman Dembele will recover and that Pedri’s injury, which caused him to leave against the Red Devils today, will be simple so that he can play the second leg.
The match witnessed widespread arbitration controversy due to the decisions of Italian referee Maurizio Mariani, the most prominent of which were two penalty kicks that were not awarded in favor of Barcelona. Radio Marca’s analyst expressed his opinion on them and settled the controversy over the validity of the referee’s decisions.
In the 37th minute, Barcelona demanded a penalty kick after Jordi Alba fell in the Manchester United penalty area, and Pavel Fernandez, the arbitration clause analyst, told Radio Marca: “Wan-Bissaka rolling on Barcelona’s back inside the area, the English player’s intervention was very strong and a penalty kick should have been awarded, but Italian referee Maurizio Mariani said nothing.
In the 85th minute, Barcelona demanded another penalty kick due to a handball on Fred in the Manchester United penalty area after Sergi Roberto’s header, and Pavel Fernandez said about it: “The ball touched the arm of the defender who stopped it to some extent and barely changed its trajectory. In my opinion it is not a penalty kick.
