Barcelona lost 2-1 away to Real Sociedad on Sunday evening, and afterwards both Hansi Flick and Frenkie de Jong were furious. The midfielder was the most outspoken and went on a lengthy rant on DAZN about referee Jesús Gil Manzano, who booked him in stoppage time for protesting.
Real Sociedad beat FC Barcelona 2-1 on Sunday night in San Sebastián, a result that left Barcelona frustrated not only by the scoreline but also by the way the match was managed in the closing minutes.
While the hosts celebrated a big home win, the post-match focus quickly shifted to the officiating, with Frenkie de Jong and coach Hansi Flick both voicing strong criticism of referee Jesús Gil Manzano.
De Jong was the most direct. Immediately after the final whistle, he walked straight to the camera and spoke with visible anger, barely attempting to hide his irritation. In his view, the biggest issue was not a single decision but the overall dynamic between players and referee, especially the lack of dialogue. “This referee is incredibly frustrating,” he said. “You can’t say anything, not even as captain, when you should be able to. He looks at you as if he is better than you. That’s not how you can communicate.”
For De Jong, that point about communication was central. Captains are expected to be the bridge between the referee and the team, but he felt that role was effectively ignored. In a match with growing tension, he believed that a calmer exchange could have helped control the tempo and the atmosphere. Instead, he felt the referee’s approach escalated irritation and prevented Barcelona from raising legitimate concerns, particularly as the game entered its decisive phase.
The main flashpoint, according to De Jong, was Real Sociedad’s approach to game management late on. With the home side protecting a narrow advantage, De Jong claimed they repeatedly slowed things down at set pieces and restarts. “I told him he had to watch the time, because with every foul, every throw-in and every goal kick they were wasting time,” he explained. “That’s normal, they’re playing at home and want to win, but he gave me a yellow.”
His frustration deepened because, from his perspective, the punishment was directed at the wrong person. He argued that he was not asking for special treatment, but for consistency, and for the referee to take visible action against what he saw as obvious delays. De Jong even highlighted one specific example to illustrate why he thought the situation had become absurd. “They take a minute for a throw-in, I told him. And then he only adds ten seconds on. That’s crazy.”
That comment points to a broader and familiar debate in modern football, the difference between the amount of time teams can waste and the amount of stoppage time they ultimately receive. Players, coaches, and fans often feel that repeated delays should be reflected more heavily in added time, and De Jong clearly believed Barcelona were denied that “fair compensation” at the end. In his mind, the yellow card for protesting was not just harsh, it symbolised a referee unwilling to engage with a captain’s concerns, even when those concerns were, at minimum, understandable.
The officiating debate did not stop there. Another key moment referenced by De Jong was a disallowed Barcelona goal in the first half. Lamine Yamal appeared to have put Barcelona ahead with what looked like the opening goal, a potentially game-changing strike in a tight away fixture. However, VAR intervened and the goal was ruled out for offside. De Jong did not say the decision was automatically wrong, but he questioned the clarity and the explanations given. “If it was offside, fine, then there’s no problem,” he said. “But I was told it wasn’t.”
He added that he spoke to the fourth official, and the message he received left him confused. “I spoke to the fourth official and he said that,” De Jong explained, before pointing out that he felt there was an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. “Something similar happened here last year.” That final line suggests that, in De Jong’s view, this was not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern in which Barcelona felt they left San Sebastián with unresolved questions about key calls.
Despite the anger about refereeing, De Jong also made it clear that Barcelona’s performance, in his eyes, warranted more than a defeat. He believed they controlled large spells, created the clearer chances, and were let down by their own finishing and by the quality of the opposing goalkeeper. “We deserved to win, we had the chances, we just lacked finishing and their goalkeeper was very good,” he said. It was a blunt summary, implying that Barcelona’s frustration was amplified because they felt they had done enough in open play to take points, only for the match to slip away.
Hansi Flick’s post-match comments followed a similar line, although he tried to strike a more controlled tone. The coach did not hide that he agreed with his midfielder, but he also suggested he did not want Barcelona to waste mental energy in a debate they could not change. “I agree with Frenkie, but I don’t want to waste energy on this man,” Flick said. “I’m not disappointed with the refereeing, because we know what it’s like.”
That remark, “we know what it’s like,” carried its own weight. It can be read as resignation, but also as a pointed comment about Barcelona’s long-running feeling that certain matches come with a different standard of interpretation. Flick then backed De Jong’s point about the captain’s role. “Frenkie is right, he is always calm, he is the captain and he wants to talk to the referee and that isn’t possible. We have to accept that, that’s how it is.”
While acknowledging the frustration, Flick steered the conversation back to performance. He argued the scoreline did not match what he saw from his team, especially in terms of chances created. “We created a lot of chances and the result doesn’t reflect what we saw,” he said. Flick also emphasised the emotional drain of matches where effort does not translate into points. “There are days when you invest a lot of energy and in the end you have bad luck.”
Importantly, Flick did not present the defeat as purely an external issue. He admitted there were aspects Barcelona must improve, particularly defensively in certain moments. “In some situations we need to defend better, but that’s a process,” he said. The wording suggests he sees this as part of a longer build, not a quick fix, and that he is still shaping the team’s habits under pressure, especially in away matches where small mistakes can be punished.
Flick concluded by explaining the message he gave the squad: acknowledge the disappointment, but move on quickly. “I told the players we weren’t lucky and we have to focus on the next match,” he said, framing the defeat as something to learn from rather than something to dwell on.
Defender Eric García echoed some of the same frustrations, though his comments were more pragmatic and focused on consequences. He felt Barcelona had the kind of game where they should have won without too much drama, only to end up empty-handed. “A match you should win easily and comfortably, you end up losing anyway, but that’s football,” he said.
García then shifted attention to what comes next: a Champions League fixture on Wednesday against Slavia Prague. His point was that Barcelona cannot afford to carry this frustration into Europe. “This is something we have to work on for Wednesday’s Champions League match,” he explained, before highlighting the most painful aspect of the night, the timing of Real Sociedad’s winner. “You score the equaliser and then, right after that, they make it 2-1... That was a hard blow.”
That sequence, an equaliser followed quickly by conceding again, often reflects a momentary lapse in concentration or structure, and García’s emphasis suggests Barcelona know they must be more resilient mentally after scoring. He ended by insisting the team did not collapse, even if the final outcome was damaging. “We fought until the end,” he said.
In the end, Barcelona left San Sebastián with a defeat, a sense of missed opportunity, and a renewed debate about officiating and time management. De Jong’s anger spoke for a dressing room that felt it had been denied the chance to properly contest key moments, while Flick and García tried to balance those complaints with a clear message: the performance contained positives, but the team must be sharper, more clinical, and more stable in decisive phases, especially with a European match immediately around the corner.
Updated: 10:18, 19 Jan 2026
