Barcelona chief goes on the attack and accuses La Liga referees of favouring Real Madrid and Brahim Diaz of diving

Barcelona president Joan Laporta says Real Madrid’s last-gasp penalty against Rayo Vallecano at the weekend was “questionable” and accused Brahim Diaz of “throwing himself to the ground”.

Madrid were toiling against the 10 men of Rayo when referee Isidro Diaz de Mera Escuderos adjudged Nobel Mendy to have fouled Diaz in the area in the 10th minute of time added on and Kylian Mbappe made no mistake from the spot to hand the hosts a 2-1 victory.

There was still time for Rayo to go down to nine men with Pep Chavarria joining Pathe Cisse in seeing red.

The win for Madrid saw them move back within a point of La Liga leaders Barca, who were 3-1 winners at Elche the night before.

Barcelona face Albacete – the team that knocked out Real Madrid – tonight in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals and, speaking before the traditional lunch for the respective clubs’ directors, Laporta did not hold back when asked to assess the awarding of the penalty.

He told reporters: “It was a game in which two players were sent-off. The game was extended when they [Madrid] were drawing and, on top of that, a penalty was awarded in the last minute, and the penalty was questionable.”

Diaz ‘threw himself to the ground’ – Barcelona president

After stressing he was speaking “as a football fan”, he added: “There are penalties that I would not whistle for because they are not. He [Diaz] touches the ball badly, the defender is unbalanced, raises his leg and does not kick the striker who throws himself to the ground. I think it was exaggerated.”

Complaining about a perceived bias in officiating in La Liga is not new with Madrid renown for pushing a club agenda through its in-house channel.

Laporta added: “I say it in a constructive sense. Sometimes it happens in our favour. But they are now favouring a club that has a television channel that is dedicated to explaining things that they feel are out of place and saying that referees constantly harm them. This [the penalty award] is the reaction.”

Laporta feels diving is commonplace in Spanish football and would like to see referees treat offenders the way they do in other countries.

He said: “The other day I watched a Premier League game and after a dive they showed the player a card.”