Alexander Sørloth is the player Barcelona fans fear the most at Atletico Madrid. Before Tuesday’s game, the Norwegian international striker had punished Barcelona with 7 goals in his 14 games against the giant. The last came in the first CL quarter-final in the 0-2 win for Atletico. On Tuesday, it was time for the second leg. Here, Sørloth also played one of the main roles. Barcelona refused to take the exit from the Champions League as “good losers”, now they are formally complaining to UEFA.
With a quarter of an hour left in the second leg in Madrid, it didn’t take many seconds on the pitch for Sørloth to turn the game around. “Our man” tore himself free, was alone on his way to goal and gushed from the Barcelona defense. A Barca player hit Sørloth in the heel, which was enough for the Atletico striker to lose his balance and go to the grass. The referee pulled up the yellow card, but after a VAR check, the decision was changed to a direct red on Eric Garcia, Sørloth had had a clear goal chance.
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Barcelona had to play with 10 men in the last 11+ minutes of the match. This ensured that Atletico could defend to a 1-2 result and thus also a semi-final ticket in the Champions League.
Barcelona president Laporta said the club would not accept that loss against Atletico, now they have chosen to send a formal complaint to UEFA.
“The club believes that during the two matches in the match, several refereeing decisions were made that were not in accordance with the rules of football, as a result of incorrect application of the rules and lack of appropriate intervention by the VAR system in situations of clear importance. According to FC Barcelona, the accumulation of these errors has had a direct impact on the development of the matches and on the final result, resulting in a significant sporting and financial loss for the club.
Among other things, the Barcelona management is unhappy with the fact that Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia (in the Sørloth episode) were sent off in the two games, while FC Barcelona also had a goal annulled.
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