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'Muscle man' Özil hits out at Xavi... "Barcelona should stop blaming the referee"
Former Real Madrid player Özil has taken a jab at Xavi.
"Özil spoke about Barcelona in an interview with Marca," British media outlet Tribuna reported on Sept. 19 (local time).
Barcelona lost the UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarterfinal second leg of the 2023/24 season against Paris Saint-Germain at the Estadi Olympic Luis Companís 1-4 on aggregate, failing to advance to the last four with a 4-6 aggregate score. The match saw Barcelona defender Araujo sent off.
In the 30th minute, Barcola made a perfect run and went one-on-one with Araujo, but Araujo failed to catch him and Barcola went down. Because the fall occurred just outside the penalty box, Araujo was shown a direct red card, and Barcelona eventually lost the game.
Araujo's sending off changed the course of the match, and PSG inflicted an epic disaster on Barcelona to advance to the last four. In the post-match interview, Xavi expressed his frustration with the officiating. "The referee was really bad," he said. I went to the referee after the game and told him that today's performance was a disaster. I don't like to comment on referees, but I have to because it had a big impact on our season," he said.
He added: "I'm very angry because Araujo's sending off was the deciding factor in the game. With 11 men, we were in control and playing a good game. To show a red card in a game like this is excessive. After the sending off, it was a completely different game. It's a shame that a season's worth of hard work was ruined by an unnecessary sending off."
Unfortunately, there was no siding with Chavi. Araujo's sending off was unconditional and all soccer experts agreed with the referee's decision. Henri, who watched the game, said: "Barca deserved to play with 10 men. It was a foul. But even if they were sent off, they didn't necessarily have to concede those goals."
Özil took a shot at Barcelona and Chavi when asked to predict the winner of the El Clasico match between Real Madrid and Barcelona on Nov. 22 (ET). "Real Madrid will win the El Clasico," Özil told Marca. That's for sure. Barcelona, of course, are fighting and trying."
Özil added: "We have good players in all positions, but there are too many injuries this season, so maybe we should pay a little more attention to ourselves and our mistakes instead of complaining about the referee all the time. It doesn't help," he added.
While Özil's words may seem like mockery, there's a good chance he's right. The number of yellow and red cards Xavi has received shows that Barca overreact to refereeing decisions. While some of the calls are indeed wrong, they are not the main reason why Barça have struggled this season.