Edward Almada

🚨🎙️ Isco on the Negreira case and Barcelona’s controversial win against Real Betis. Reporter: After this game, do you genuinely believe Barcelona have been favoured by the referees? Isco: “Honestly, I’ve been hearing about the Negreira case for years, even when I was playing for Real Madrid. You know how big the rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona is. Every little thing becomes a controversy. “But if you ask me what I really think, sometimes I feel Real Madrid are becoming too obsessed with Barcelona. If the allegations are true, let the investigation establish that and let the proper authorities decide. But we cannot keep talking about it forever without reaching a conclusion. “Look at the Barcelona team from those days. Messi, Busquets, Iniesta and Xavi in the same squad. Do you understand what that means? When you have that kind of quality, you already have every reason to believe you can beat anybody. Honestly, you have to ask yourself why a team like that would need to pay referees to win football matches. “As a Madrid player back then, these were not things you could always openly question. You knew how intense the rivalry was, and sometimes you felt that speaking too much could put your own position at the club under pressure. “And about today’s game, I know people are talking about the red card, the disallowed goal and everything else. But if you understand football, you know Barcelona didn’t cheat us out of this result. Lamine provoked Bernal, Bernal reacted badly, and he paid the price. The disallowed goal was also a close decision involving a possible handball. “I’m not going to lose a match and start discrediting my opponents just because I’m disappointed. Barcelona played excellent football, and they deserved their win. “Sometimes you have to accept that the better team won. Barcelona are among the best teams in the world right now, and there is no shame in losing to a team of that quality. Our job is to learn, improve and come back stronger.”