Furious Manuel Pellegrini Blasts Referee After Barca Loss

A furious Manuel Pellegrini accused referee Jonas Eriksson of being biased and deciding the game as 10-man Manchester City lost 2-0 to Barcelona. And the City manager claimed the official should never have been appointed for the game -- because he is from Sweden.

Pellegrini was angry that Eriksson sent off City’s Martin Demichelis and awarded a penalty, which Lionel Messi converted to open the scoring.

“The referee did not have any control of the game," Pellegrini said. "He decided for Barcelona from the beginning to the end. I think it was not a good idea to put a referee from Sweden in such an important match and a referee who made a mistake against Barcelona in the group stages.”


For suggesting the referee set out to favor Barcelona, Pellegrini is likely to be contacted by UEFA's disciplinary department, and faces a fine or touchline-ban.

In 2011, UEFA banned Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho for five matches, reduced on appeal to three, for a similar rant when he was at Real Madrid.

The Chilean believed Eriksson should have awarded City a free kick for a challenge on Jesus Navas and then felt Demichelis’ challenge on Messi was outside the penalty area.

And Pellegrini complained: “From the beginning I felt the referee was not impartial to both teams. The referee decided the game. Before the penalty, it was a foul on Navas when he was three metres from the play so he could see it. And it was not a penalty, it was outside the box."

Actually the match Pellegrini was referring to was in March 2012 when Eriksson denied Barcelona two potential penalties in a 0-0 draw against AC Milan. But the 60-year-old felt that officiating in the Swedish league does not give Eriksson the gravitas to officiate a Champions League last-16 tie.

He added: “A big game with two important teams, that kind of game needs a referee with more experience. This referee whistled the Barcelona-Milan game in the group and he made an important error against Barcelona. Today he remedied it.”

He elaborated on his belief that it should not have been a spot kick when Demichelis brought Messi down: “The contact was outside the box. You cannot continue the foul: the first foul was outside the box. Barcelona did not have chances before the goal. It was a pity because that important action decided the game.”

Daniel Alves scored Barcelona’s second goal in the 90th minute and Pellegrini added: “Playing 40 minutes with one player less is difficult against Barcelona but we played well with one player less and in the last minute they scored the second goal.”