Barcelona claimed they were robbed by some dubious refereeing calls in a UEFA Champions League quarterfinal clash against fellow La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid, but former Super Eagles captain Mikel Obi will dismiss this.
Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League after they lost 3-2 on aggregate to Atletico.
They won 2-1 at Atletico Tuesday night after they fell 2-0 at home the previous week.
Mikel Obi, who won the Champions League as well as the Europa League with Chelsea, maintained that even though they enjoyed more of the ball possession against Atletico, Barcelona did not have the “killer instinct” to go through to the next round of the competition.
“A lot of FC Barcelona fans won’t like what I’m about to say, but it’s the truth. You dominated the ball the entire game just to do absolutely nothing with it, and then you shout ‘robbery’ when reality hits you,” Mikel told Mundo Deportivo.
“That wasn’t a robbery — that was you exposing yourselves by having all the possession and zero killer instinct to show for it.
“That ‘comeback mentality’ you love to talk about… where was it? Because when the game really needed character, Atlético Madrid had it.
“Ademola Lookman stepped up and decided the match, while Barcelona players were busy shaking hands with the referee as if he was going to change the score for them.
“They failed to come back against Atlético on two different occasions when they had to play them twice. Now they want to blame the referee for their incompetent style of play. That’s not how it works.”
