Spain’s sports media were divided yesterday following Barcelona’s 2-0 first-leg Champions League win over a 10-man Real Madrid, with some papers questioning the referee’s decision to send off Pepe.
“Why?” screamed both sports daily Marca and AS on their front pages.
“An exaggerated red card against Pepe left Madrid with 10 men against Barca for the fourth time,” Marca added on its front page.
German referee Wolfgang Stark issued Real’s Portuguese center-back Pepe with a straight red card on the hour mark following a tackle on Dani Alves.
Barcelona made the extra man count with Messi converting an Ibrahim Afellay cross on 76 minutes and then scored a mesmerizing goal on 86 minutes for his 11th Champions League goal of the season.
“Ecstasy,” Barcelona-based sports daily Mundo Deportivo wrote in bold letters on its front page below a photo of Messi celebrating one of his goals.
“Messi is the damn master,” it added, in a reference to Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola’s comments before the match that Real coach Jose Mourinho was “the damn boss, the damn master.”
“The damn master is Messi,” said rival Catalan sports daily Sport on its front page.
“Mourinho, who was sent off, is a bad loser. He once again presented himself as a victim of the referees,” it added.
During his post-match press conference Mourinho said referees have always favored Barcelona and highlighted the dismissal of Pepe as an example.
AS agreed, saying Stark “sent off Pepe when he deserved a yellow card.”
“German referee Stark entered yesterday into the gallery of the monsters of Real Madrid’s universe,” it added.
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