<
>

Lionel Messi should have seen red card, says furious Asier Illarramendi

Asier Illarramendi was furious Lionel Messi was not sent off as Barcelona beat Real Sociedad 1-0 in the Copa del Rey on Thursday to end a 10-year wait for a win at Anoeta.

Messi was booked in the first half for time wasting and Illarramendi felt he should then have seen a second yellow card for obstruction when he stopped him taking a quick free kick after the break. Messi has only been sent off once in his career for club and country on his debut for Argentina against Hungary in 2005.

The Real Sociedad midfielder was also angry that teammate David Zurutuza was ruled offside when he was clearly onside from a deep free kick into the penalty box.

"The offside against Zurutuza is not offside and Messi... that's always been a yellow-card offense," Illarramendi said after the game.

"If he'd been wearing another shirt he would have been sent off. But whatever, we have to pick ourselves up."

Real Sociedad also had a goal unfairly ruled out when the two sides drew in the league in November and that prompted the former Real Madrid man to add: "They've already robbed us in La Liga."

On Thursday, Illarramendi took his complaint to Twitter, writing: "Once again, the same as always! Once again..."

Speaking after that tweet had been posted, Barca midfielder Ivan Rakitic defended referee Gonzalez Gonzalez's decisions and suggested Barca, whose goal came via a Neymar penalty, should have had a second spot kick.

"I don't know what Illarra's complaining about," the Croatian told reporters. "There [should have been] another penalty [for Barca]. Sometimes it's better to leave your phone in your pocket a little longer."

La Real's Zurutuza and Sergio Canales also tweeted their frustration, posting a photo of the former's supposed offside.

However, manager Eusebio Sacristan refused to get involved in criticising the officials.

"I have to focus on my team, analyse the game, see what we've done well and what we can improve on, both in terms of the second leg and this weekend's league game," he said in his postgame news conference.

Barca coach Luis Enrique, meanwhile, defended Messi and didn't agree with the Argentine's first half yellow card.

"I've not seen anything out of the normal," he said. "The card they did give him seemed strange to me, but I think he was perfect. I liked the attitude of my players."

Real Sociedad travel to Camp Nou next Thursday for the second leg of the quarterfinal tie.