Barcelona were beaten 2-1 by Athletic Club in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey, but the headlines were taken by Mike Dean's Spanish counterpart Fernandez Borbalan. The referee's awful decisions were heavily criticised by Barca defender Gerard Pique.
"The penalty on Neymar was extremely clear and the one that Gorka did to me, too," Pique complained toSPORT.es.
⚽�� @3gerardpique, @andresiniesta8 and Leo #Messi all named in #UEFA Team of the Year https://t.co/zANtlCDQLR #TOTY pic.twitter.com/1s6TufqXDI
"But we know how this works already. And we saw what happened yesterday in Sevilla vs Madrid. In line with what's happened recently. We want to play football and not roulette, which is what this refereeing causes."
Pique could well face a ban for these comments, as the Technical Committee of Referees step in to assess the situation on Monday. Criticism of the referee is not tolerated well by football officials, as we see with the likes of Jose Mourinho; if he is angered by a decision, he says merely 'no comment'.
Borbalan's refereeing performance was worse than anything Mike Dean has ever done in his career. The official somehow failed to send off Aritz Aduriz for punching Samuel Umtiti as well as missing two clear penalties, and has a history of such ineptitude.
Jose Mourinho (when manager of Real Madrid)once poked Barca's Tita Vilanova in the eye. He received only a two-game ban, and Vilanova got one match in the stands. He has also punished Lionel Messi for time wasting in a goal celebration when plastic bottles were thrown at him.
Aduriz punching Umtiti square in the throat. Not even a yellow. pic.twitter.com/M0FFCpNwA5
There is no indication that the punch on Umtiti will even be looked at. The situation looks worrying; current footballing laws essentially tie clubs' hands over refereeing incompetence. This kind of censorship is a barrier to keeping the officials on their toes.