Barcelona manager Hansi Flick was left enraged after both the referee and VAR failed to intervene in a hugely controversial penalty incident during his side’s 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night. The La Liga leaders will now need to overcome a two-goal deficit in their Champions League quarter-final, as Pau Cubarsi’s red card compounded the misery.
In what was the renovated Camp Nou’s first appearance in European competition, Diego Simeone’s side pulled off one of the shocks of the quarter-finals so far, with Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth making the numerical advantage count. After reaching the semi-finals last term, Flick and co. will have had their eyes on going all the way this time around given the quality at his disposal.
At full-time, the Barca manager was seen approaching the referees, alongside several of his players, as they fumed at numerous decisions throughout the night. While some slammed the decision to send Cubarsi off in the first half, Flick has now also fumed over a decision he believes should have resulted in a second yellow card and a penalty in their favour.
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Hansi Flick Vents Frustration at Controversial Penalty Incident
Hansi Flick
During his post-match interview, the German couldn't get his head around one incident, which saw Atletico Madrid go unpunished after goalkeeper Jan Oblak seemed to start play, before his defender picked the ball up to have a second attempt at the goal-kick. He raged (see the incident and his interview below):
"Atletico's goalkeeper passed the ball to his defender, and the centre-back touched it with his hand without even looking! So, what's the point of VAR? They deserved a red card... it's clear, it's a second yellow, a red card and penalty."
A similar situation occurred between Arsenal and Bayern Munich in 2024, when Gabriel picked the ball up to reposition it for a goal kick after David Raya had taken it. At the time, a rules expert downplayed the referee’s decision to turn a blind eye to the incident, claiming that “common sense” (referencing Law 18) should apply rather than strictly punishing the handling.
Even so, Flick’s stance is that rules are rules, and the outcome of the fixture could have been very different had the letter of the law been followed more closely to punish the handball, regardless of any margin for human error.
More to follow...