The Betis manager let loose after the 2-5 defeat, branding the referee’s calls as baffling and unjust. How could they let that happen? He listed every contentious moment – a wildly annulled goal, a 30‑metre hand that never affected the score, a head‑butt ignored by VAR, and a red card he says should have been a yellow for both sides. All these incidents, he argued, left his side numerically disadvantaged.
Pellegrini added that the match was riddled with fouls, yet the officials chose a harsh approach. He described how Cucho shielded the ball with his chest, was shoved, and then hand‑balled from 30 metres – an action that didn’t influence the goal and stemmed from a Barcelona player’s push. In his view, such moments robbed 60,000 fans of a fair spectacle.
He turned his ire toward Facundo, insisting the dismissal tipped the balance. “If we had stayed level‑headed, 11‑against‑11, the score would have reflected the game,” he said, noting Barcelona’s late goals after the sending‑off further skewed the contest.