Barcelona legal department studying UEFA ruling, as Atletico Madrid president calls grass complaint ‘nonsense’

Barcelona legal department studying UEFA ruling, as Atletico Madrid president calls grass complaint ‘nonsense’

Barcelona sitting President Rafael Yuste and Atletico Madrid counterpart Enrique Cerezo held a traditional directors lunch before the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Madrid. The former confirmed that Barcelona were studying UEFA’s decision to reject their complaint about a non-penalty call during the first leg.

The Catalan side were furious when Marc Pubill was not punished for a perceived handball in the second half of their 2-0 loss to Atletico at Camp Nou, and filed a complaint to UEFA over the matter. On Tuesday, UEFA said they had deemed the complaint ‘indamissible‘.

“The legal department is assessing the grounds on which UEFA has not accepted our claim, and when they tell us, we will act accordingly,” Yuste told MD hours later.

State of Metropolitano pitch not a concern

Equally, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick was seen complaining about the state of the Metropolitano pitch as his side trained on it on Tuesday. It was cut later that evening, and the Blaugrana have received assurances from UEFA over its state this evening. Yuste, who is in temporary charge of Barcelona until the summer when Joan Laporta is sworn in for a fourth term, was not concerned.

“I’m not worried because I know that both sides of UEFA have been with the teams and I think the pitch will be in perfect playing condition.”

Cerezo confirmed that Atletico had invited Laporta to the dinner due to their ‘good relationship’ and the fact he was the president elect. He thought little of any Barcelona complaints though, be it about the pitch or the refereeing.

“These are things they’ve complained about, UEFA has told them it’s fine (the pitch), and I can’t tell you more than that. I think some people like long hair and some people like short hair. I already saw it clearly, and as long as UEFA says so, that’s it. You all talk about so many things during the day – the pitch, Pubill’s play… Come on, something new. For me, this (the complaints) is utter nonsense,” he explained to Sport.

Julian Alvarez future

Naturally, as is the case before every meeting between the two, Cerezo was asked about Julian Alvarez’s future, amid interest from Barcelona. His answer did not differ from his response over the past six months, telling the Catalan paper that “I think he’s going to stay with us for a long time.”