Man United, Barcelona each slam ref after Europa League draw
Erik ten Hag steered that the “pressure” bought to referee Maurizio Mariani after he failed to identify what the Manchester United supervisor believed was a transparent crimson card offence dedicated by Barcelona defender Jules Kounde through the 2-2 draw at Camp Nou.
United have been main 2-1 within the first leg of their Europa League round-of-32 tie when Marcus Rashford went down underneath a problem from Kounde as he appeared to run by on objective.
Mariani waved play on earlier than reserving Ten Hag for his protests and afterwards the Dutch supervisor slammed the Italian official’s choice.
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“If I make a point that has a big influence on this game and at this ground, at 2-1, it was a clear foul on Marcus Rashford,” stated Ten Hag.
“We can discuss if it’s inside the box or outside the box, but definitely, it’s a red card.
“I requested the referee why. So he stated it was outdoors the field and it was no foul. And the linesman and referee have been in an excellent place to see and I feel we had VAR. I feel it is not good, it was a extremely unhealthy choice. I can not perceive.
“Maybe they were pressed by the pressure Barca made. It’s a big influence, not only on this game but in this round, and referees can’t make such mistakes.”
Despite scoring his twenty second objective of the season and establishing the second by a Kounde personal objective to place United in entrance, Rashford was additionally left livid on the choice to not flag for a foul after the collision with Kounde.
“I haven’t watched it back, but I don’t understand why the linesman or the referee thinks I am going down there?” Rashford informed BT Sport.
“I have touched it past him, my foot is in front of the ball and he hits my leg. It’s clear contact and was 100 percent a foul.”
Barca coach Xavi Hernandez additionally fumed on the officiating for not awarding his aspect a penalty for a handball by Fred late on.
The ball struck the Brazilian midfielder’s arm inside the realm within the closing 10 minutes however neither the referee nor the VAR deemed it adequate to sign a spot kick.
“It’s a penalty, for me, a really clear penalty,” Xavi stated in a information convention. “The position [of Fred’s arm] was not natural. It’s crystal clear. It happened in Milan in the Champions League [against Inter] and now here. I don’t know what we have to do to get one. It’s incredible it was not given.”
United fought again from going a objective right down to Marcos Alonso’s Fiftieth-minute opener to guide 2-1 earlier than Raphinha equalised within the 76th minute for Barcelona. It will make United favourites to progress from the tie forward of the second leg at Old Trafford subsequent week however Ten Hag steered his staff ought to be heading again to Manchester with a major lead.
“We created many chances and it’s a disappointment that we didn’t score them. We should have scored a minimum of four goals,” he added.
“I think we dictated the game, apart from maybe 15 minutes in the first half, we had some difficulties, but in the rest we were dictating the game and we had so many chances.”
Information from ESPN’s Sam Marsden contributed to this report.