Midfielder on loan from Manchester City, Claudio Echeverri, admitted that he would have understood if the referee had given him a foul for stepping on Jules Kounde before the winner against Barcelona. The decision was highly controversial, with VAR ruling that referee Cesar Soto did not need to take a second look.
After the match, Echeverri was questioned about it, and noted that the contact was not intended, however he admitted that it could have been given as a negative.
#GironaFCClaudio Echeverri for the bad decision of Kounde🗣️
“Yes, I was going fast, maybe I didn’t mean to.”
“Yes, [I’d understand if a foul was given]. But it’s okay, luckily they gave us the win.”
More reactions from #Barcaplayers’s👇pic.twitter.com/MWheHaYHhx
— Football España (@footballespana_) February 17, 2026
Asked as they returned to the team bus, Kounde replied ‘yes’ [it was a foul]while Dani Olmo and Frenkie de Jong just looked annoyed.
😳 Si las miradas hablasen… 😳😳😳
🔥 Ojo a las caras de la template culé cuando @10JoseAlvarez les pregunta por la polemica. pic.twitter.com/ZsQTh8EjfI
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) February 17, 2026
Joan Garcia: “We have to make more mistakes”
Goalkeeper Joan Garcia was arguably Barcelona’s best player on the night, and admitted it was a mistake for Kounde.
“It’s a mistake, Jules gets the ball first, but the most surprising thing is that they didn’t call the VAR official because, on the field, it’s true that you might not see it. I personally didn’t know what happened,” said MD.
Garcia tried to take the emphasis off the referee though.
“Those are things we can’t control, the truth is that we scored more than we would have liked, if we lose the ball we have to make mistakes in the opposing team’s half because they make mistakes in ours.
🚨 Eric García is good! No injuries. [@HelenaCondis] pic.twitter.com/M1kZgiXqtS
– barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 17, 2026
Pau Cubarsi – ‘We should not criticize referees’
Before him, Cubarsi did his best to avoid discussing Kounde’s decision.
“Everyone saw it, we will not comment. People already know what happened. Inside, there is nothing we can do. We must not criticize the referees,” he told DAZN, quoted by MD.
Cubarsi described their performance as ‘lacking in all aspects’, with Barcelona showing many of the same mistakes that were shown against Atletico Madrid.
“We have to improve. We can’t concede two goals like that. We played a bad game. We were lacking in all aspects. It wasn’t a very good game. We need to criticize ourselves and get our act together. After my goal, they scored a goal too quickly, and that won’t happen because it puts the enemy back in the game. Now we have a few days to rest, and we need to criticize ourselves, and improve a few things.”
Gerard Martin – ‘The foul is clear’
Left-back Gerard Martin followed suit in admitting the referee’s error to MD, but criticized their performance rather than the manager.
“It’s clear, but those are decisions we can’t control, and we have to focus on what we can’t control. We haven’t been good in many defensive things. We have to improve things. We know our style is dangerous, but we believe in it, and it’s not negotiable. We have to give our best, because otherwise we can suffer.”
Manager Hansi Flick told the media after the game that he was giving his players two days off, but for Raphinha the decision still hurts. He took to social media to say that Barcelona were competing under different conditions than their opponents.
