Barcelona defeated Sevilla, referee controversial penalty becomes the focus of post-match

In the La Liga match ending in the early morning, Barcelona lost to Sevilla 1-4 away, not only missing the opportunity to reach the top, but also handed over the top position to his arch-rival Real Madrid. After the game, the controversy over the referee's penalty quickly fermented, and Barcelona questioned whether the team had encountered an unfair punishment.

The referee of this game, Alejandro Munos Ruiz, became the center of controversy. In the 10th minute of the game, Sevilla player Isaac Romero fell to the ground after physical contact with Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo. At first, the referee did not make a penalty, but after VAR referee Del Cerro Grande intervened, Muñoz watched the replay in person and finally awarded a penalty. Barcelona's former player Alexis Sanchez took the penalty and took the lead for Sevilla.

However, this penalty has caused great controversy. Both former La Liga referees Perez Bruel and Iturard Gonzalez believe this is not a penalty foul. Gonzalez analyzed: "Both sides have pulling movements. Araujo grabbed the opponent's collar, and Romero also grabbed the jersey on the front of the Barcelona defender's thigh. But overall, the movement was not enough to constitute a foul. The Sevilla player's feet hardly moved, and he fell to the ground immediately as soon as he felt the contact. This was more like an obvious fake fall, intending to cheat the penalty."

What made Barcelona angry was the second conceding. In the 36th minute, Sevilla player Gabriel Suazo obviously brought Conde from behind in the competition, but referee Muñoz did not give a penalty, the game continued, and then Romero scored. This missed judgment immediately triggered strong protests from Barcelona players.

Frankie DeJong was the first to rush forward to argue. He believed that the foul was clearly visible, but he received a yellow card due to his emotions. Conde and Araujo also surrounded the referee for explanation, and the Frick coaching staff on the sidelines were even more angry. Although VAR reviewed it, it was finally determined that "no action was found to be enough to call a foul", and the goal was determined to be valid. This explanation made Barcelona players even more dissatisfied, believing that the team suffered consecutive losses in key penalty decisions.

However, it must also be admitted that Barcelona's own performance is difficult to say. Although the team's offense and defense improved after Flick replaced Barde and Eric Garcia in the second half, and he also got a penalty kick to equalize the score, captain Lewandowski missed the penalty kick and missed the best time to turn the situation around.

When the team itself cannot seize the key opportunities, no matter how much referee disputes are, it is difficult to cover up the overall sluggish performance. Since then, Barcelona conceded two more goals in the 89th minute and the 6th minute of stoppage time, completely ruining the game.

It can be said that this loss is the result of the superposition of multiple factors: the absence of key players Rafinia and Yamal weakens offensive firepower; frequent mistakes on the defensive end and poor counterattack response; and the team's psychological quality and key ball handling ability in leading or chasing points also exposed serious problems.

Although the referee's two controversial penalty did have an impact on the game trend, Barcelona's performance in the whole game was far from the level that the championship team should have. Instead of blaming failure on being "hacked", it is better to face your own problems.