Referee acts “like he is better than me”, says Barcelona captain; Hansi Flick backs De Jong’s comments
Barcelona captain Frenkie de Jong was infuriated by Jesus Gil Manzano during his side’s 2-1 defeat to Real Sociedad on Sunday.
De Jong has said he was frustrated by attempts to speak to the referee about events during the game only to be met by a condescending attitude. Barcelona had three goals ruled out for offside in the first half, as well as a penalty after a foul on Lamine Yamal overturned by an offside call.
“If it’s given offside, it’s offside,” De Jong said. “I have not seen [the Yamal incident], but they have told us it’s not offside.
“But what I want to say is that you can’t even speak to the referee. I don’t understand it at all. And I am the captain. I tried to talk to him and he looks at me with a face like he is better than me. It’s very frustrating. You can’t behave like that.”
De Jong also felt that Sociedad were engaging in time-wasting as the game ran out but his attempts to complain fell on deaf ears.
“In added time, I was saying to the referee to watch the time, they were taking one minute for throw ins, goal kicks and so on, which is normal, of course, but to not add even 10 seconds more seems crazy to me,” said De Jong.
“And I said that to the referee and he booked me, so you can’t speak to this referee.”
Barcelona boss Hansi Flick supported his captain’s comments: “I heard what Frenkie said and he’s right. But I don’t want to waste energy for this guy. Everyone on the television and in the stadium saw his performance. We have to accept it. It’s like that.”
