Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski could be banned for a number of games following comments he made criticising La Liga referees.
The attacker, who converted a late penalty to secure victory for Barcelona at El Sadar on Sunday, was speaking to Polish outlet Meczyki when he claimed that La Liga referees are killing the game in Spain.
The Sun have now reported that he could face a ban for his comments, in line with bans handed out to Sergio Canales, formerly of Real Betis, and Valencia defender Jose Gaya, for comments made by the pair criticising referees.
“LaLiga is not attractive and attacking enough,” Lewandowski stated.
“Referees are killing the league. I didn’t expect Spanish league teams to be this reluctant to play football.”
Is Lewandowski correct?
The striker has failed to hit his best form in recent months, and he recently expressed his frustration at Xavi’s tactics for not providing him with enough service.
The veteran has had to play against a lot of physical sides in La Liga, who tend to sit deeper when facing Barcelona than their Bundesliga counterparts would do when Lewandowski was playing for Bayern Munich.
Whilst a ban may be excessive, the heads of La Liga will be particularly unhappy at his comments potentially damaging the product of the league, and criticising referees is now a no-go for players and managers.
La Liga registered the lowest effective playing time amongst the top five leagues last season, with the ball in play for just 53% of the games, perhaps indicating that referees in Spain are too negative and too eager to stop the play.
Lewandowski may therefore have a fair point about the refereeing quality in Spain, but he can now expect a ban for his comments and he should perhaps exercise more caution in future.