Barcelona fell to a second defeat in their last three La Liga games as they lost 1-2 to Las Palmas at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys today.
Having lost to Real Sociedad and then being held to a draw by Celta Vigo, the Blaugrana ended up dropping points yet again, leaving the door open for Real Madrid, who have two games in hand, to leapfrog them.
The loss to Las Palmas today, though, had some controversial moments none more than the non-penalty call made by the referee even though Pau Cubarsi was stamped on his foot by an opponent player in the box.
Speaking to the media after the match, Barcelona youngster Fermin Lopez expressed his surprise at the referee not calling the penalty, stating that he did not understand the reason behind the decision.
“I didn’t see it, but I think he was stepped on. I don’t know the reason why the penalty wasn’t called,” said Fermin.
However, the young attacking midfielder refused to use that as an excuse and acknowledged that the team did not play as well as they should have.
“But in the end, we didn’t play well, there are no excuses, we have to be self-critical and move on,” remarked the La Masia ace.
Cubarsi had a penalty shout denied vs Las Palmas. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Talking about what went wrong on the afternoon, Fermin further said: “I don’t think we played a good game, we weren’t decisive in important aspects. We have to correct our mistakes, be self-critical and move forward.”
On being urged to point out the mistakes that the team made, the Spaniard replied: “We will discuss them internally, but we have to continue training, analyse the last few games, be self-critical, correct mistakes and think about the next game.”
However, Fermin was clear that the issue was not due to a lack of confidence or self-belief on the team’s part, as he said:
“No, never, we all have confidence in ourselves and in the team. I think we’re going to go back to doing what we did before. We’re going to keep going and stay positive.
“We weren’t accurate or decisive. We had a lot of chances to score, but in the end you have to take it, think positive and move on.”
Source: Mundo Deportivo