Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez said referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz “lost control” of Saturday’s heated Catalan derby after his side were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw against Espanyol at Camp Nou.
The match descended into chaos after Lahoz’s decision to award Espanyol a 73rd-minute penalty, with Joselu‘s spot kick cancelling out Marcos Alonso‘s opener.
In the 10 minutes that followed, Lahoz handed out seven yellow cards, red cards to Jordi Alba and Vinicius Souza to leave both teams with 10 men and a third red card to Leandro Cabrera, which he later overturned.
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“The game got away from him today,” Xavi said in a news conference after the game. “He was giving out cards without any reason and lost control of the match. But it’s not his fault we drew, it’s our fault we dropped points.”
Pressed on what he said to Lahoz at the full-time whistle, Xavi, who was also booked, added: “I told him that he had lost control of the game. ‘Do you think?’ he said to me.
“But we keep coming back to the referee and I can’t control the officials. They should come out and speak, explain their decisions and say what they said to the players. I can’t do anything.”
