Xavi slams handball ‘injustice’ in Barcelona defeat at Inter, urges referees to give post-match explanations

In a crucial Group C encounter, given Bayern Munich are pulling clear at the top, Inter took the spoils thanks to Hakan Calhanoglu’s first-half strike.

And after Pedri had a goal ruled out by VAR for an Ansu Fati handball, a contentious moment saw Barcelona denied a penalty late on, with Denzel Dumfries appearing to handle the ball inside the area when in close proximity to Fati.

“I feel that it was a big injustice, I can’t hide it,” Xavi said afterwards, and then claimed referee Slavko Vincic should be addressing his “mistakes”.

Xavi added: “I’m offended. It’s the referee who should be giving explanations, I said that yesterday. We don’t understand.

“I think the referee should be out here, that would humanise them a lot more. Today I’m really unhappy.

“This is football, it’s a game that we’ve lost, we’ve got three more finals. Two at home, they’ll be real finals, and we’ll have to focus on more intensity, the first half wasn’t good – we have to be a bit critical.”

Barcelona host Celta Vigo in La Liga on Sunday before welcoming Inter to the Camp Nou on Wednesday.

That comes before a trip to Real Madrid on October 16, but with qualification for the Champions League knockouts on a knife-edge, Xavi knows his side must improve on their haul of three points from their opening three Group C games.

He said: “We’ve got a game in the league on Sunday then Inter come to the Camp Nou. We need to compete to qualify for the knockout stages. Two huge games against Inter and Bayern.”

Meanwhile, Barca defender Andreas Christensen suffered an injury during the match.

Afterwards, the club confirmed it was a ligament sprain in his left ankle, with the former Chelsea defender set for further tests on Wednesday.