Barca helped by referee, says Roma coach

AS Roma coach Di Fracesco has complained that Barcelona received help from the referee during his side’s 4-1 defeat at the Camp Nou.

The coach however admitted that his side had made mistakes which resulted in the match and indeed the tie getting away from them.

Barca scored either side of the half with two own goals before Gerard Pique added a third goal. Edin Dzeko pulled one back for the visitors but Luis Suarez restored the three-goal advantage with a goal in the 87th minute.

For Francesco, the outcome of the match could have been different had Danny Makkelie awarded two penalties to his side. Dzeko penalty call was denied after a tangling of legs with Barca full-back Nelson Semedo while the referee decided that Samuel Umtit

Francesco commented that the scoreline was unfair to his team.

"Yes, absolutely, given how we played. We had a lot of chances. I think it's a result that doesn't demonstrate what we did on the pitch.

"It's going to be very difficult to qualify from here but it would be less difficult if the referee hadn't helped them, especially with the big decisions," Di Francesco said in a press conference.

"But we made mistakes and we made it easy for them, which you can't do against Barca. Daniele [De Rossi] has made a mistake, which can happen, then [Kostas] Manolas was unfortunate with the second own goal,” he opined.