Manuel Pellegrini criticises refereeing after Betis lose 5-2 to Barça

Manuel Pellegrini found Betis’ 5-2 defeat to FC Barcelona on Saturday in Liga difficult to accept. At his post-match press conference, the coach strongly criticised referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea and several of his decisions.

Beaten at home in the ninth round, the Andalusian side suffered a setback. The match at La Cartuja featured, among other contentious moments, a disallowed Betis goal and the sending-off of Facundo Bernal following an altercation with Lamine Yamal.

Pellegrini felt the red card had unbalanced the contest. Barça, meanwhile, secured another emphatic win and remain top of Liga with 27 points after nine matches. They have won all nine of their league games, scoring 39 goals and conceding 9, and have also won their last five Liga matches.

Betis sit third, eight points behind FC Barcelona, while the other results from the ninth round are still pending. After the match, Pellegrini gave a blunt assessment: «The truth is, I found the refereeing lamentable, absolutely devoid of any footballing criteria. I think it affected decisive actions that completely determined the result of the match.»

He also challenged the decision to disallow Lo Celso’s goal after a handball by Cucho Hernandez was identified following a VAR review. «A Barça player pushed him from behind. It was an involuntary handball 30 metres from the action; it had no bearing on the goal,» Pellegrini said. He also criticised the referee for not penalising Fermin Lopez’s high foot in the move before Barça’s third goal, scored by Gabriel Jesus: in his view, «there was neither dangerous play nor VAR».