Keita fury at referee jibes

Barca midfielder insists Madrid press are off the mark

By Giscard Gourizro   Last updated: 5th February 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Keita fury at referee jibes

Keita: Refs do not favour Barca

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Midfielder Seydou Keita has reacted angrily to claims in the Madrid press that Barcelona receive preferential treatment from referees.

Marca and AS suggested that the Catalan side receive favourable refereeing decisions after Barcelona's 1-0 defeat of Sporting Gijon last weekend.

Both publications insisted goalscorer Pedro was offside when he settled the match, and reckon that Barca often receive the benefit of the doubt.

Barca currently lead the Primera Liga by five points from Real, but Keita has rubbished suggestions that his side are given favourable decisions by referees.

The Mali international told AS: "If Real are second in the table that means we are better than them, if they talk about referees that is to destabilise us

"Referees are humans, they make mistakes like all of us, people can't use that and say they are giving us favours, they are not there to help us, Madrid or any other team.

"There are 18 games to go, so we have to win our games."