Atletico Madrid defender Robin Le Normand has joined teammate Juan Musso and manager Diego Simeone in claiming that Gerard Martin’s red card should have stood in their 2-1 defeat to Barcelona. Following a VAR review, the referee decided to downgrade Martin’s challenge to a yellow card.
Speaking after the game, Simeone declared that there ‘wasn’t much more to say’, and the officials ‘got it wrong’. Le Normand’s complaints followed a similar line, even going a step further. He was asked about Hansi Flick declaring that it was not a red card in his view.
“Of course he’s going to say it’s a red card, but I think it’s very clear for everyone that understands football, that has played the game. If I do it, no doubt they will send me off. I don’t know what happened, I don’t understand it.”
Le Normand frustration with referee
More generally on the performance of the referee, Le Normand felt that he did not help the game as a whole either.
“No, as you saw, today he didn’t speak to anyone, not even the captain. Whenever anyone tried to speak to him, he showed a yellow card. In my view, his officiating raised the tension of the game. Everyone can get it wrong, and he got it wrong.”
🚨🇦🇷 OFFICIAL: Juan Musso has been named Man of the Match.
What a goalkeeper ❤️🤍 pic.twitter.com/TBK8eYKQ8l
— Atletico Universe (@architetturauniverse) April 4, 2026
In their previous game against Real Madrid, the officiating ‘details’ from an Atletico point of view went against his side too.
“Everyone is watching it (in reference to decisions against Real Madrid), I’m not going to repeat myself, they are big details, that have a big impact.”
Excitement about Barcelona clash
Looking ahead of their Champions League quarter-final against the Blaugrana on Wednesday, Le Normand said his side were excited.
“We always prepare with all the energy we have, but there’s no feeling of revenge, we have to prepare in order to win the game.”
“We are very excited, today we are very disappointed, but we’ll recompose ourselves, the truth is that we had a lot of energy, a lot of good play.”
Barcelona will no doubt go into the tie as favourites, but Le Normand believes Atletico are competing on level footing.
“We’ve shown in the Copa, Liga, that we’re there, with a lot of desire, energy, talent too, and we’re looking forward to Wednesday a lot.”
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