Barcelona was eliminated 7-6 on aggregated by Inter in the semi-final of the Champions League, in a meeting that will live in memory for a long time. For the Blaugrana, however, the bitter feeling reached further than just their elimination and to the officials.
After the game, the performance of Szymon Marciniak was heavily examined, with several large calls in Inter's Way. The context behind Barcelona's frustration with the Polish official is that Marciniak was also in charge two years ago during a crucial draw at the Giuseppe Meazza and a clear handball Van Denzel Dumfries missed in the penalty box.
“This is not the first time that this has happened to us with this referee. Uefa should look at it. There are things that I don't understand and they are complicated,” Pedri told Marca after the game.
“For me, the fine has to send on Lamine, he mkhitaryan, who already had a yellow card. But there are many decisions.”
In the meantime, Eric Garcia was the player needed to give his reaction to the field after the game immediately after the last whistle, and he also had sour memories of Marciniak.
“I don't know what is wrong with this stadium. I have been here three times, and for some reason, or because of something outside of our control, things did not go on our way. We all know what happened to this referee the last time we came here.”
Colleague defender Inigo Martinez was also not impressed by what he saw from the officials.
“Everyone saw today that the decisions always went in the same way. Although we don't want to blame him. We keep our heads high.”
While Ronald Araujo claimed that there was an error in the construction of Inter's Equalizer in stopping. He was asked if the referee had anything to do with the result.
“I think so. In the 3-3 game it was a mistake on Gerard MartÃn; he went for the ball and if it didn't dispute. But we don't have to make any apologies; we have to keep our head up. This team has a direct mentality and is a generation that will certainly win a lot of champion competitions.”
Wojciech Szczesny, however, was not willing to criticize his countryman after the defeat against Inter, as he told Canal+ Poland and was cited by Sport.
“I know that in the case of a defeat, people usually talk about the performance of the referee, but I am not going to hold on to it. It is not necessary to apologize. Things will be discussed, but it is not worth following that path.”
“It was close and I really thought there was no punishment at all,” he noted about the decision to give a penalty against Pau Cubarsi.
“But apparently Pau did not touch the ball, so a penalty was awarded. It was a quick decision, and so it was decided. There is nothing to say anymore.”
Manager Hansi Flick tends to love controversies this season and asked people in Spain to support the officials. However, he also felt injustice by Marciniak, complained about the marginal calls and received a yellow card for his problems during the game.