Barcelona rage after being ‘screwed’ by referee during Inter epic

Barcelona's two-legged Champions League semi-final clash with Inter will go down as one of the competition's greatest ever ties, but a sour taste has been left in the mouth of Hansi Flick and his players for what they perceived to be an "unfair" result that had "screwed" them out of a place in the final.

The Catalan giants were trailing 2-0 at half-time but fought back to lead 3-2 at a raucous San Siro with three minutes of time remaining – Eric Garcia, Dani Olmo and Raphinha the goalscorers.

But Francesco Acerbi's dramatic stoppage-time leveller was followed up by an extra-time winner from Davide Frattesi, sending Inter through to the final of the Champions League for the second time in three seasons.

It was perhaps no surprise then that Flick, and a number of Barcelona players, took issue with the officials when conducting their post-match media duties.

"We think the result is unfair because of some refereeing decisions, I have to say that," Flick huffed. "I don't want to talk too much about the referee, but every decision that was 50-50 ended up being in their favour, that's what makes me sad."

The German boss continued: "I don't like to talk about the referee any more, I've told him what I think, but I'm not going to repeat it here now, it's not fair to my team either, who have done an enormous job.

"I'm disappointed with the result, not with the team's performance. It is what it is, we are out, but we will try again because we want to make the fans happy, winning the Champions League was our goal and it will be again.

"We can be proud of the players, I am. It's part of football, winning and losing, we will all learn."

Pedri: This isn't the first time this has happened

"This isn’t the first time something like this has happened with him," an irritable Pedri remarked to the press. "UEFA should investigate. Every 50-50 went their way. There was a clear penalty on Lamine that turned into a foul, and Mkhitaryan should've seen a second yellow.

"We're screwed now, but starting tomorrow, we have to focus on Real Madrid because half the league is at stake."

Inigo Martinez, meanwhile, vented "everyone saw the calls went in one direction, but I don't want to focus on that. The referee made his choices. It's a shame."

As Pedri alluded to, all is not lost for Barcelona despite their elimination. They are top of La Liga, four points ahead of rivals Real Madrid with just four matches of the season remaining, and have already dispatched their Clasico counterparts in the recent Copa del Rey final.

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