We Need to Work on Improvement, and Refereeing Needs Reform

Luciano Spalletti, the coach of Barcelona, appeared after his team drew 2-2 against Lazio led by Sarri at Allianz Stadium as part of the 24th round of the Italian League, where he spoke about the performance of his players and what he described as refereeing discrepancies during the match.

Spalletti said: “A goal we conceded due to our mistake? It might be because of what is asked of the players. I always say that any ball should be played and not thrown away. We must influence the course of play and raise the level of quality, and in these requests, we must be able to anticipate dangerous situations.”

He added: “Often we have to see two things together, and we often see one thing and pay the price. When the pace rises and we need to turn the score around, it should not turn into chaos, but the speed of perception should be increased without confusion.”

He continued: “Even tonight we were great, but there are many opportunities we could have exploited. The moment we press is the most important, where we test our ability to manage emotions in difficult situations. They turned a very difficult score, and we must continue calmly and work on improvement.”

Regarding the refereeing decisions: “A disallowed goal and obstruction on Cabal? The referee interprets as he wishes, and the defender made a reckless move. I am not here to determine whether it was a penalty or not. These things happen, everyone now protests about the laws in place. There is always an interpretation for every incident, whether it’s a handball or a ball hitting the arms, it cannot be generalized to all cases.”

He added: “Tonight there were 23 people on the field, and the only non-professionals are the referees, and reform should be made to make the referee professional. They are the only unstable ones around the field. They should be professional, because the discussion always revolves around this issue, and this creates an imbalance.”