Valverde slams ‘invisible penalty’ after Barcelona draw at Las Palmas

Ernesto Valverde was not happy with the decision to award Las Palmas a penalty during Barcelona’s 1-1 draw on Thursday night.

It was not completely clear what the penalty had been awarded for, but Jonathan Calleri smashed home the spot kick to level it up after Lionel Messi had bagged the opener.

Speaking after the game, Valverde was critical of the decision to award the penalty and also said goalkeeper Leandro Chichizola should have been sent off for handball.

“We don’t know what the referee blew for during that play. Nobody knows in the dressing room,” he said.

“In that phase of play we don’t understand what he blew for, it was inexplicable. We hope that his decision will become a little clearer when we see a replay. It was an invisible penalty

“For me, it was really clear [the Chichizola handball]. I would image that Jémez saw it differently.”

Source | AS

It’s a damaging draw for Barcelona who are now just five points clear of Atletico Madrid and face Diego Simeone’s in-form side on Sunday. A win for Atleti would cut the gap to two points and seriously ignite the title race.