Zubizarreta: Adriano deserved a penalty

Barcelona director of football Andoni Zubizarreta believes Adriano

was fouled within the Real Madrid penalty box and deserved a penalty in

their 2-1 El Clasico defeat.

The Blaugrana lost 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu on the night and

suffered a consecutive defeat to their arch-rivals following their Copa

del Rey elimination at the Camp Nou earlier in the week.

It was

also a heated encounter as Adriano fell within the penalty box after a

perceived challenge by Sergio Ramos during injury time, who had only

minutes earlier scored the crucial second goal for Real.

The

referee refused to listen to the penalty claims and a number of angry

Barcelona players rushed towards the official to express their

disapproval following the final whistle. In the aftermath of the

kerfuffle, goalkeeper Victor Valdes was handed a red card with Andres

Iniesta also getting a yellow for dissent.

Zubizarreta was

clearly frustrated with the incident and, unlike assistant coach Jordi

Roura, made his views on the matter abundantly clear.

"The images are very clear on that incident, it was a clear penalty to Adriano," the former Barcelona player told reporters.

"It

deserved to be a tied game, as it was an atypical Clasico, with a lot

of intense play. Now we have to recover from this result for the next

[Liga] game against Deportivo.

"We are still many points ahead of

second place, and we are working every day to build our game. We must

always compete, and the sooner we close out the league, the better."

On the other hand, Real centre-back Pepe felt that Adriano fell down to ground far too easily during the incident.

"I

didn't see Adriano's action but it seems like he is the one looking for

contact. The referee was perfect. After all, he could also have sent

off Thiago [Alcantara], but he had control," the Portuguese told

reporters after the game.

"I've seen Barcelona doing unusual

things, like surrounding the referee at the end. It's not a polite

image. They've lost twice against us and won't be happy.

"We've played a complete match. We are so happy. I always believed in the league. As long as it's possible, we'll fight for it.

"Now it's Champions League time, and we are so confident."

Source: Fox Sport