Xavi reveals there was injustice in Barcelona’s defeat to Inter

After their Champions League group stage elimination was threatened by a 1-0 loss at Inter Milan, Xavi felt his Barcelona team had suffered “a great injustice.”

Inter won thanks to a goal from Hakan Calhanoglu in stoppage time of the first half.

When Pedri scored for Barca in the second half, they believed they had saved a point. However, the goal was disallowed due to an Ansu Fati handball.

Barcelona drops to third place in Group C after a loss, three points behind Inter.

Pedri appeared to have equalized on 67 minutes as Cameroon keeper Andre Onana cut through a swarm of players and palmed a cross straight to him, allowing the 19-year-old to finish. It was a night of drama at the San Siro due to VAR decisions.

Onana was put under pressure, but Fati had his hand up and the ball was slammed into his fingers at point blank range. VAR disallowed the goal, and Barcelona manager Xavi received a booking for his complaints to the referee.

“The referee should be out here explaining why he makes these decisions, if he made mistakes or not. That would humanise them a lot more,” said Xavi.

“Today I’m really unhappy. I feel there is real injustice.”

Prior to the game, Simone Inzaghi, Xavi’s Inter teammate, was the one under pressure. After dropping four of its first eight league games this season, his team is ninth in Serie A.

He also had to deal with the hot-shot Robert Lewandowski, who had nine goals in his last seven games for Barcelona despite not having scored at the San Siro.

Lewandowski’s dry spell continued as he had a quiet night in Milan, while Inzaghi celebrated a crucial victory that puts Inter in the driver’s seat for advancing to the last round.