Barcelona veteran Inigo Martinez has denied accusations that he spit on Tuesday evening at Inter -defender Francesco Acerbi, after the second goal of Inter. The two had to be separated by their teammates in the aftermath, with VAR checking a red card in the process.
The incident took place after Hakan Calhanoglu's penalty towards the end of the first half, while the Turkish playmaker converted the spot kick against Wojciech Szczesny. When the celebrations started for Inter, Acerbi celebrated in Martinez as he ran past and the Basque defender seemed to spit in his direction.
Acerbi responded to it and a melee followed between the two sets of players, with Szymon Marciniak avoided any action. Martinez was asked about the incident, but denied about the idea that he had spit at Acerbi.
“Acerbi celebrated the goal in my ear, I got angry, but the spit was not on him; I would have been sent away immediately,” he told MD.
Martinez was one of the many players who was not happy with Marciniak for his performance, with the feeling that a number of decisions against the Blaugrana made. “Everyone saw that the decisions always went for the same side,” he noticed.
However, he was also optmistic and looked forward to their decisive La Liga collision with Real Madrid on Sunday. “The team still has a lot of motivation, and we go to Madrid without problems,” he said at the Clasico this Sunday.
The question that everyone now asks in Spain is how this affects Barcelona that will go into Sunday's collision. In terms of fatigue and morality, Barcelona got two tough strokes. Hansi Flick claimed that Barcelona would be 'good for Thursday' after the game, but it will be a tough job for the Blaugrana to pick themselves up.