Barcelona coach Hansi Flick launched an impassioned defence of referees in Spain on Friday, criticising how they’ve been handled and calling on the Royal Spanish Soccer Federation [RFEF] to indicate how robust they’re.
Referee José Luis Munuera Montero this week revealed he was unable to go away his home after receiving loss of life threats for sending off Actual Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham final Saturday.
It comes following weeks of scrutiny on match officers within the nation since Madrid filed a proper criticism with the RFEF and Spain’s Sports activities Ministry (CSD) over the usual of refereeing in LaLiga, claiming it “adulterated” the competitors.
“The referees, for the time being, what they’re doing right here in Spain with them is unbelievable,” Flick mentioned in a information convention on Friday.
“You must take into consideration their households. Everybody of us makes errors, together with me. It’s the duty of the gamers and coaches to guard them. I do not like [what’s happening].
“We use our power to debate with him. No. The referee makes his determination. Up to now we had no VAR. Now we’ve VAR. We’ve to belief in them.”
A fee has been put collectively to discover reforming the refereeing system in LaLiga, which is at present overseen by Spain’s technical committee of referees (CTA), which is a part of the RFEF.
Flick urged the RFEF to face as much as the threats and criticism with the purpose of defending officers.
“The [RFEF] have to indicate how robust they’re,” he added. “That is, for me, crucial. We’ve to take care about that. We’ve to vary these items.
“They’re human. We’ve to maintain them and shield them as a result of we can not play with out referees.”
It has been a tough month for referees in Spain.
Madrid first complained of on-field referee Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz and VAR official Javier Iglesias Villanueva’s determination to not ship off Espanyol defender Carlos Romero for a foul on Kylian Mbappé.
Bellingham’s dismissal for foul and abusive language final weekend in the direction of Munuera Montero, which has earned the Englishman a two-game ban, then served to extend the hostile environment in the direction of officers that had already been brewing.
Flick was talking forward of Saturday’s journey to Seventeenth-placed Las Palmas, the place Barça will look to retain their place on the high of the desk after leapfrogging each Actual and Atlético Madrid on Monday.
Barça don’t have any new harm considerations forward of the sport, with Andreas Christensen returning to coaching this week. Lengthy-term absentees Marc-André ter Stegen and Marc Bernal are the one different gamers lacking.
Earlier on Friday, Barça had been paired in opposition to Benfica within the spherical of 16 of the Champions League, with the second leg to be performed on the Olympic Stadium and the winners assembly both Borussia Dortmund or Lille within the quarterfinal.
“It is a powerful match as a result of they’re doing actually good,” Flick mentioned of drawing Benfica, who Barça beat 5-4 when the 2 groups met straight away basic in Lisbon final month.
“We may see it within the recreation at Benfica, they damage us lots on this present day. At this stage, there aren’t any opponents you’ll be able to say it is simple. For everybody now it is powerful matches.”
