"Daylight robbery": Valladolid mayor lays into referee after Barcelona defeat

Barcelona’s 1-0 victory over Real Valladolid on Monday evening has entered the political sphere after the mayor of Valladolid launched an astonishing online attack on match referee Jaime Latre over a penalty shout against Jordi Alba and the sending off of Óscar Plano as the home side snatched all three points courtesy of a last-minute strike by Ousmane Dembélé.

“It’s daylight robbery, plain and simple,” Óscar Puente wrote on his official Twitter account. “It’s an inconceivable disgrace,” the Valladolid mayor added of the incident in the second half when Alba handled the ball in the Barça penalty area. Replays showed that the Spain defender made clear contact with his hand but the match officials and the VAR monitors decided it was not punishable by a spot kick for the visitors.

In the view of Iturralde González, AS’ resident referee, Latre was correct not to award a penalty as Alba did not have the time to withdraw his hand and his arm was not in an unnatural position.

"Mother of beautiful love, this is indecent"

After the penalty incident, Valladolid midfielder Plano was sent off for a challenge on Dembélé. “Mother of beautiful love. How brazen. The 80th minute and we’re still at 0-0. There are 11 white and violet heroes tonight. This is indecent,” Puente tweeted.

In this case, Iturralde said the mayor was correct to complain. “He does bring him down but it’s not a red card, it’s a yellow. This is an instance where VAR should communicate to Latre that it is not a sending off.”

When the final whistle went and Barcelona’s victory was confirmed, Puente summed up. “I think the referee should go into the Barça dressing room and have a go at them. They almost failed to win. They weren’t able to live up to his solid work. He was much better than them in the end.”