Barcelona manager Xavi has expressed his fury at La Liga and Getafe, blasting match officials as well as the opponent’s style of play following his side’s 0-0 draw at Coliseum Alfonso Perez.
The Spaniard was furious as Barcelona laboured to a draw, in a game in which he was sent off from the sidelines, whilst there were two red cards and the game slowed to a halt as a result of Getafe’s timewasting.
Speaking after the game, he laid into La Liga as an organisation for failing to clamp down on behaviour as exhibited by Pepe Bordalas’ side.
“If this match is La Liga’s product, it’s an absolute embarrassment. I understand why people don’t watch our football,” he stated.
“I was sent off for telling the referee they were allowing Getafe to get away with a lot of fouls and not doing the same for us. We had a meeting with the referees and the first change they said they would make is that they would understand the coaches more, and the tension we feel on the pitch.
“But that is not what happened, and I don’t understand it. The game got away from the referee’s hands. They allow too much of this, if this is the product we are selling as a league, it’s not normal. It’s an accumulation of things, they allow our rivals to do anything they want and everything we do is a foul.”
Is Xavi right to be angry?
Barcelona have now drawn 0-0 three times in a row away at Getafe. The hosts have totalled 42 fouls across the three matches, and received 11 yellow cards.
Xavi is well within his right to call out the refereeing, and the consistent fouling by Getafe. However, the other side of the argument is that teams lower down the table should be allowed to play a defensive style if they want to.
Getafe’s fouling and time-wasting antics come as a great annoyance to a club like Barcelona, who have prided themselves on an attacking style of football for generations, but Getafe managed to take points off Barcelona.
There cannot be a sense of entitlement from Xavi that opponents lower down the table should play a style which allows Barcelona to win. Whilst Getafe are a nightmare to play against in terms of fouls, they are well within their rights to play a style which enables them to consistently gain results against top opposition.