Pamplona faithful witnessed Osasuna secure their first points of the season in a draw against Mallorca which saw referee take centre stage with the two cards he showed.
k**e Sola and Tomer Hemed scored in the final twenty minutes of the Spanish Primera Division fixture between Osasuna and Mallorca for a 1-1 draw at El Sadar, Pamplona. Managers’ of both La Liga outfits were understandably displeased with the outcome of the
fixture which was marred by two sending offs.
Osasuna manager, Jose Luis Mendilibar, was equivocal in the performance of the match officials, claiming that their decisions impacted the outcome of the heated fixture.
The 51-year-old questioned the legitimacy of the cards, whilst also suggesting that such treatment are never seen in matches where higher profile Spanish clubs are concerned, pointing fingers at the Sevilla vs. Real Madrid La Liga fixture.
“It is easy in a match between Osasuna and Mallorca for the officials to draw a straight red,” Mendilibar said.
“Yesterday I saw a game [Sevilla-Real Madrid] that could have had a straight red shown, but they didn’t dare.”
Continuing on the topic, Mendilibar called into question why both players were given their marching orders, whilst also raising the subject of dismissed penalty claims in the first period.
“He sent off both players to keep things equal. I don’t know, I’ve not seen the incident, but there may also have been a penalty in the first half for grabbing.”
Reflecting on the performance of Osasuna players, Mendilibar claimed that his charges were better than their rivals in the first half and did well after the break. Moreover, he admitted that Los Rojillos did not create clear cut chances but suffered as they
made mistakes after taking the lead.
“We created more than Mallorca in the first half and played well in the second.”
“We did not have many clear chances, but we’ve been strong and we got one goal, but we then changed and began to concede corners and make mistakes, so we then conceded a goal.”
The draw allowed Osasuna to add their first points of the 2012/13 La Liga season after suffering three straight defeats in their opening domestic encounters.
Tags: