Flick Urges Barca Players to Respect Referees

Barcelona boss Hansi Flick urged his squad to steer clear of “rude” actions toward game officials after Real Madrid’s Jude Bellingham was handed a straight red card for disputing a decision in their 1-1 clash at Osasuna.

Bellingham stated after Saturday’s match that he had not offended the referee and called the situation a mix-up. On Sunday, he said sorry on social media for “leaving my teammates in such a tricky spot.”

Flick, speaking before Barcelona’s home match against Rayo Vallecano on Monday, mentioned he had reminded his team of the need to avoid disputes with officials.

“It’s rude. For me, it’s like that. But I don’t have to decide (the penalties),” he told reporters on Sunday.

“I don’t like this attitude, and I told my players today because it’s very important. It doesn’t help the squad when you do this and receive a red card. It’s a flaw, and we don’t want that.

“We have one player on the field who is allowed to talk to the referee, and that’s the skipper. We must respect that.”

Third-placed Barca can climb back to the top of LaLiga with a victory over Rayo later on Monday.