Barcelona coach Flick fumes over refereeing decisions in defeat at Inter

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick was upset over several refereeing decisions in his side's 4-3 loss at Inter Milan that stopped the Catalans reaching their first Champions League final in a decade after an extra-time goal by home substitute Davide Frattesi.

Barca thought they had victory in the bag when they roared back from two goals down to grab a 3-2 lead with Raphinha's goal in the 87th minute but Inter equalised through Francesco Acerbi in added time to stay alive and then scored the winner.

Flick criticised Polish referee Szymon Marciniak who had a busy night in the 4-3 semifinal, second leg at San Siro, with Inter advancing 7-6 on aggregate to face Paris St Germain or Arsenal.

He awarded Inter a penalty after a VAR review for a challenge by Pau Cubarsi on Lautaro Martinez that he did not deem an infringement and later reversed a decision he had signalled as a spot-kick for Barcelona, with VAR saying Henrikh Mkhitaryan's foul on Lamine Yamal was just outside the box.

Barca's players and bench also complained about what they thought was handball inside the box by Inter defender Acerbi and a foul by fullback Denzel Dumfries on Gerard Martin in the build-up to the equaliser which took the game to extra time.

“I don't want to talk too much about the referee, but every decision that was 50-50 went [Inter's] way,” German Flick said.

“I am disappointed, but not with my team. They tried everything. It's the way it is. We are out, but next year we will try again to make the fans happy.

“It makes me sad — my team did an excellent job. I don't like talking about the referee — I've told him what I think, but I'm not going to say it here what I've said.”

Barca were chasing a treble after winning the Copa del Rey, but will now turn their focus to LaLiga, where they top the table and on Sunday host rivals Real Madrid, who trail them by four points with four games to go.

The five-times winners were hoping to reach their first Champions League final in a decade, but were left licking their wounds ahead of Sunday's 'El Clasico'.

Unbeaten domestically since late December, Barcelona will try to grab a fourth consecutive victory over Real this season.

“We'll learn from this. It's a progression. We want to keep learning. We don't have much time to train now, but next weekend we are back. It's normal to be disappointed,” Flick said.

“The team deserves the respect they have earned. We play to win, we want to win titles and we have LaLiga, with a very difficult match. We have a few days to prepare for this match.

“Each player, when they get home, can look in the mirror and be proud of themselves. We'll analyse the game calmly and see what we can do.” 

Reuters