Hansi Flick lamented FC Barcelona's defeat against Real Sociedad (2-1), in a match conditioned by the controversial refereeing of Jesús Gil Manzano. In the post-match press conference, the manager preferred not to focus his analysis on the decisions that harmed Barça, although he did back Frenkie de Jong after his outburst against the main referee at Anoeta.
"**That's what he said and I agree. I'm not going to waste time or energy on that**," the Barça coach began. However, faced with the journalists' insistence, the German made it clear that there are evident communication problems with the referee from Extremadura and other LaLiga referees.
Flick fed up with refereeing, but prefers to hold back to avoid new sanctions
"Sometimes I also want to talk to the fourth official and I can't, you have to accept it. I don't know if there's a lack of communication with referees in Spain, but with Gil Manzano there certainly is a lack of communication," Flick said
The manager had already had issues with the 41-year-old referee, who sent him off in the 2-1 victory against Girona on matchday 9. Furthermore, regarding Lamine Yamal's offside in the first half, he ironically said: "Wasn't that the referee from last season who disallowed Lewandowski's goal?"
Indeed, it was Carlos del Cerro Grande, whose performance in the VOR room was once again questionable. This time, the Madrid-born referee influenced **two disallowed goals and a penalty for Barça**, in addition to turning a blind eye to a clear foul by Jon Aramburu on Dani Olmo prior to Mikel Oyarzabal's goal that made it 1-0.
"I am not disappointed with the referee. Everyone has seen it. I will not waste energy on that. We focus on ourselves"
Disappointment over the defeat and lack of accuracy
On the other hand, Hansi Flick stated that, although Barcelona "played a good game," they ultimately paid dearly for defensive lapses and a lack of accuracy. The second goal, scored by **Gonçalo Guedes** one minute after **Marcus Rashford**'s equalizer, ended Barça's comeback hopes.
"**I am disappointed, we have enjoyed many clear chances and the result does not reflect what we saw**. But I like how we have played. Now we must focus on the next match, which is very important," argued the manager. Continuing with his self-criticism, he added:
"Our game has been good. We could have defended better in a couple of plays, but I'm satisfied overall. We've played very well in the last two weeks and we have to keep it up, we can't focus on the referee, but on the things we can improve," Flick pointed out
"We've made defensive errors, we need to defend better. We were also unlucky in attack. We have to accept it. There's also been bad luck"