I‰a reˆsǣ Ǯ et arca copeteǯ

aMADRID – Barcelona Coach Xavi Hernández pleaded with LaLiga referees to ‘let us compete’ and claimed the Catalan club are ‘paying for the Negreira case’ after Vitor Roque’s red card in Saturday’s 3-1 win at Alavés.

Roque was sent off just 13 minutes after coming on for picking up two bookings having also scored Barça’s third goal, with the second caution especially debatable.

Xavi complained it is one of many decisions to go against Barça this season and suggested his team are seeing the consequences of the investigation into their relationship with the former Vice-President of Spain’s refereeing body, José María Enríquez Negreira.

Barça paid companies linked to Negreira over €7 million (US$7.6m) across 18 years, but maintain they were purchasing technical reports into refereeing and never bought match officials or influence.

“It’s a refereeing error against us

– it’s just an unfair dismissal, if we are being honest,” Xavi, who said Barça will appeal the red card, said in a news conference.

“I just ask the referees to let us compete in LaLiga. This is another case of a clear mistake against Barça. Everyone can see the reality.

“We are paying for the Negreira case, absolutely no doubt. But that’s it, I am not going to speak about referees anymore.”

Accused

Xavi’s comments come just 24 hours after he accused Real Madrid TV of ‘influencing the competition every week’ by broadcasting videos highlighting refereeing mistakes before and after games this season.

That prompted Madrid Coach Carlo Ancelotti to say he would not sink to Barça’s level after the Blaugrana President Joan Laporta also said Real Madrid ‘are not behaving well’ in an interview on Friday.

“I have a good relationship with Ancelotti,” Xavi responded. “This is not to do with him. I have complete respect for Ancelotti.”