Barcelona defender aims dig at Real Madrid after Copa del Rey triumph – ‘Football won today’ | OneFootball

Barcelona defender Inigo Martinez congratulated referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea and the rest of the Copa del Rey final officiating team for their performance while criticising Real Madrid for their behaviour leading up to the game.

The Los Blancos caused a lot of uproar as they boycotted the pre-match press conference, photo and training session at La Cartuja, due to comments made by the referees leading up to the match.

The tensions were so high that the possibility of Real Madrid walking out of the final was not ruled out. Ultimately, though, the game went ahead as planned with Barcelona prevailing 3-2 in a hard-fought encounter after extra time.

Inigo Martinez sympathises with referee, hits out at Real Madrid

Speaking to the media after the game, Barcelona defender Martinez, who put on a solid display through the 120 minutes at La Cartuja, congratulated the referee and his team for their job in the high-stakes encounter.

“Congratulations to Richi (De Burgos) and his team-mates who have been at a very high level. I hope we all do the same and put ourselves in their shoes because it was very unfair to reach those levels,” said Martinez, as quoted by SPORT.

“We have to support them because we all fail in life and it’s hard what they go through. Nobody likes to be in that situation,” he added.

Inigo Martinez was critical of Real Madrid’s behaviour. (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)

Criticising Real Madrid for the way they acted in the lead-up to the match, Martinez remarked:

“What happened yesterday is not up to the level of the great club that is Madrid. That’s my opinion. It’s not easy to be there and have everyone pointing the finger at you, that’s why I congratulated the referee today. We all make mistakes.”

Not stopping there, the veteran Spaniard added: “I think football won today and that’s what’s important.”

Continuing on the topic, Martinez further stated: “We knew there was a lot of hype around them and that it was going to be complicated but he was able to handle it and I’m happy for Richi because he’s a great guy.

“Professionalism never fails and for our part, it was about proving we were better as we have done.”

Hailing the team for the performance on the night in Seville, he stated: “We’re doing well. We knew that it was our day, that the team had come prepared and that’s how it was.

“Any other team today against Madrid with the 1-2 scoreline would have fallen and we knew that we had to wait for the moment and the strength of the group got us through the game.”