After a painful defeat – H. Flick's criticism of the referees and a 'thank you' to Germany

2026-04-09 11:18 © ZUMAPRESS.com

"Barcelona” began their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal series with a defeat, as they lost 0:2 at home to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

The key moment of the match occurred at the end of the first half when, after a VAR review, a red card was shown to Barcelona defender Pau Torres and shortly after that Julian Alvarez scored the first goal.

After the match, the Catalan strategist Hansi Flick criticized VAR, stating that there should have been a penalty awarded to Atletico in the second half after what appeared to be a handball by Atletico defender Juan Musso while the ball was already in play. However, the referee decided that the ball had not yet been put back into play, and VAR did not intervene in the situation.

"I did not understand what happened in the situation where the goalkeeper put the ball back into play, and the defender just picked it up with his hands and restarted the game. To me, that is a clear red card, or rather a second yellow card, as this player was already cautioned. VAR could explain why there was no intervention in the game.

I can’t believe the opponents went unpunished. We feel cheated. Unfortunately, we have to accept it and fight again next Tuesday.

We also received a red card and shortly after that, a goal was conceded. The VAR referee was very focused on Atletico today. The referee in the VAR room was German, so I want to thank Germany,” H. Flick did not hide his anger.