Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez believes that the refereeing denied his team a clear penalty kick in the second half against Rayo Vallecano that almost changed the course of the match and gave the Catalan club three valuable points in the Spanish League.
Barcelona tied 1-1 with its host Rayo Vallecano, and although Xavi believes that losing points to the Blaugrana was deserved, it was the third time his team was wronged by refereeing this season.
"We have problems with referees' decisions that can be interpreted, and we have not had any luck so far this season. We always have problems," Xavi said in the post-match press conference.
He also added, "It will be said that I am looking for excuses, but Rafinha's ball was a clear penalty kick. That happened to us against Getafe and Granada, and today, we lost two points because we were bad in the first half, but Rafinha's ball was a penalty kick."
He continued, "In the first half, we lacked the necessary mentality to enter the match. If we want to win championships this season, we must change this mentality."
He concluded, "We must not stop here with the arbitration decisions alone. After the performance we presented in the first half, we must criticize ourselves strongly."
It is noteworthy that Barcelona awaits an important match in the Champions League against Porto next Tuesday, with which it is tied on points with 9 points each, while Shakhtar comes in third place with 6 points.
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