Ronald Koeman fumes over denied penalty in Clasico defeat

Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman fumed at reporters after Barcelona's defeat to Real Madrid, questioning La Liga referees and VAR after Martin Braithwaite was denied a late penalty.

Barça suffered a blow to their title hopes in Madrid despite threatening a comeback in the second half. They were 2-0 down at the break, but Oscar Mingueza gave them hope and there were strong appeals for a penalty when substitute Braithwaite went down under apparent contact from Ferland Mendy.

The shout looked dubious; there may have been a slight tug on the arm, but the Dane appeared to simply lose his balance as the ball trundled out for a goal kick.

Koeman, though, admitted he was 'angry' with the decision not to give his side a penalty, questioning why VAR didn't interfere to overturn the official's ruling.

He also fumed at the lack of stoppage time, with the referee only signalling for four minutes despite a prolonged stoppage in the second half due to a technical problem with his headset.

He told Barcelona's club media: "We are really angry about the situation with the penalty. That's not fair play. If you don't give the penalty - I don't understand that.

“I only ask the referees to get decisions right. It’s a penalty and only four minutes of stoppage time was given, despite the referee having [to stop for a period] because he had a problem with his headset.

“It’s a very clear penalty. And if it had been given it’s 2-2. It’s such a clear penalty. I don’t know why we have VAR in Spain."

The toys went fully out of the pram when Koeman spoke to Movistar about the situation. He asked a reporter if they thought his side should have been given a spot-kick and was exasperated with their non-committal response.

"If you want to sit on the fence, sit on the fence," he said, before storming off.