If you are a Barça star and Jesús Gil Manzano referees you, you can start trembling. The referee from Extremadura linked a particular and impressive repóquer last night. After expelling Neymar, Luis Suárez and Messi when they wore Blaugrana, this time it was the turn of Robert Lewandowski and Gerard Piqué, who finished his career after protesting to the referee at halftime on the way to the locker room tunnel and without playing. The Pole left after half an hour after seeing two yellow cards. The first, very debatable, for a half-struggle with Nacho Vidal. The second, impenetrable by an attack on David García in an incomprehensible action when he was already reprimanded.
This is the second expulsion in Lewandowski's professional life in 829 games. He hadn't been shown a red card for nine years, so many that he was still a member of Borussia Dortmund. Out of his wits, Lewandowski left the pitch touching his nose twice in a gesture that could well say that, in his opinion, "something smells bad" or that someone was drunk, although from Germany it was commented that there it means denouncing arrogance . This gesture was reflected by Gil Manzano in the minutes.
It is an expulsion that will have consequences, since the Pole will miss Barça's return after the World Cup. He will not be able to play at least against Espanyol at the Camp Nou, and with that wording on the minutes he is exposed to more punishment. When the Pole left, the Barça players were already hot with the referee, who did not annul the 1-0 despite a clear prior foul by Unai García on Marcos Alonso.
A concatenation of events that provoked Barcelona's outrage. At the break, Piqué, in what can be considered his last act of service, chased the referee verbalizing the complaints of his teammates. Any possible sanction was no longer with him and he could express his opinion without any hindrance. Gil Manzano sent him off and he couldn't sit on the bench in the second half or come on in the final minutes (he would have, Xavi confirmed). He already did not care and began his sports retirement in a unique way. According to the minutes, Piqué blurted out the following to the referee: “Did you see what corner you gave us? You are the referee who has screwed us the most by far". Minutes later and already expelled, the referee assures that the defender rebuked him again in these terms: "She's a fucking shame, I shit on your fucking mother!"
Gil Manzano's record with Barça reflects that he has expelled ten Barcelona players in 33 games, the most prominent being Messi, in his only red blaugrana, in the 2021 Super Cup final, Neymar, in Malaga in 2017, and Luis Suárez in the Cup semifinals of the same year against Atlético. Yesterday, Barcelona overcame everything. “We have won, but we feel harmed, Osasuna's goal was a foul, I think it wasn't even a corner. Then Robert's expulsion, which marks the match. It's a very unfair decision in our opinion", explained Xavi, who was proud of the "spectacular reaction of the team".
