Optimum Sports : Barcelona Reject Tunnel Threat Claims

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Luis Enrique has dismissed reports that striker Luis Suárez threatened Espanyol players in the tunnel after Barcelona’s 4-1 Copa del Rey victory at Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Espanyol finished the first leg of the last-16 tie with nine men after Hernán Pérez and Papakouly Diop were sent off, while there were accusations that goalkeeper Pau López stamped on Lionel Messi.

But with ill-feeling still hanging over from the 0-0 draw between the city rivals at the weekend when Barça players accused opposition fans of racially abusing Neymar, it was Suárez’s clash with Diop that caused problems after the final whistle.

According to referee Juan Martínez Munuera’s report, which has been quoted by Catalan newspaper Sport, the Senegal international told Suárez, “I shit in your whore mother”, and was shown a red card in the 75th minute.

“At the end of the game, once in the tunnel, Barça’s No9, Suárez while the Espanyol players were coming up the stairs, waited for them and shouted at them on various occasions,” read the report. “He said: ‘I’m waiting for you, come here! You’re a waste of space’. It provoked a confrontation between players of both clubs and the security guards had to get involved, as did coaches of both teams.”

Asked about the incident, Luis Enrique dismissed the accusation as “Christmas carols”, presumably in reference to the fact the match was being played on Dia de Los Reyes (Three Kings Day). “It isn’t down to the coaches or the players to keep the peace,” the Barcelona manager added. “It’s down to the referees to ensure we play football and not American football. There was some tension. I’d like it if there were more football, fewer interruptions and no injuries.

“When someone oversteps the mark, it’s down to the referees to keep order. Of course there’s tension in these games. The players know each other, they’re two teams with a special rivalry but that rivalry has to remain positive.”

But Diop, who launched into a dance routine in May 2014 when playing for Levante in response to racist chanting from Atlético Madrid fans, insisted Suárez should have been sent off as well.

“We both insulted each other. He said swear words to me, and me to him, and I get sent off. The referee told me he didn’t hear us both, only me,” Diop told Carrusel Deportivo.

“[The press] have spent all week saying we are violent and this has had its effect. [Barcelona’s players] are really good and if you cannot even touch them, they can do what they want.

“You cannot say we were violent. There wasn’t any blood – if we had wanted to, the Barça players would have gone off on stretchers.”

Espanyol received eight yellow cards and two reds during the match, although Andrés Iniesta dismissed suggestions things had gone over the top. “Violence is a very strong word, in games like this there’s a lot of rivalry and contact,” he said.