Frustration Expressed Over Refereeing Decisions in Recent Match

Manolo González concluded the match with palpable frustration, acknowledging his team’s subpar performance while expressing deep dissatisfaction with the referee’s decisions.

“Should I laugh?” the coach responded to a journalist’s inquiry. “It’s necessary to find humor in this; it seems that when it happens to Espanyol, nothing is done about it. It’s not just the penalties; it’s the four minutes of added time, the goalkeeper provoking the crowd while escaping punishment—there are many actions that erode your focus and pull you out of the game,” he asserted. “It’s a derby, a match with significant stakes, and it requires control as well. As an official, you must know how to manage the game. You are the judge of the match.”

“I don’t understand the criteria… The only legal decision was to retake the first penalty. However, if you analyze the penalty incident, there is contact with the chest, but no actual hold; there was a more clear foul against Roberto in my opinion. I cannot comprehend it. The second penalty was not reviewed… We have had better days, but the match should not have ended 0-2, not at all,” the home coach stated after the game.

“We created significantly more chances than they did. When you cannot convert opportunities, it becomes difficult. They had one opportunity in the first half along with the penalty. Once the game takes that direction, it becomes challenging to respond,” he analyzed.

“This was not a match that should have ended 0-2; it was closely contested with very few chances in the first half—only Lemar’s chance, which was preceded by a clear foul by Vanat on Pere Milla, along with that penalty. There wasn’t much else happening; in the second half, we improved and had opportunities to equalize, even though we were not at our best as Espanyol.”