Atletico Madrid star explains himself after nasty kick on Barcelona ace – ‘I apologised both on and off the field’ | OneFootball

FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid played out a high-tension UEFA Champions League clash last night at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano.

Even though the Blaugrana prevailed on the night, they were knocked out of the competition on aggregate scoreline.

Much like the first leg of the quarter-final tie between the two teams, the second leg also had some controversial officiating from the referee.

One incident that left Barça fuming was the non-awarding of a penalty for a nasty kick on Fermin Lopez by Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso.

In the first half, the Barcelona attacking midfielder attempted to head a cross towards the goal. Musso, in the process of making a save, ended up with his boot in Fermin’s face, who was left bleeding and needing stitches.

Musso explains incident

Given the serious nature of the incident, Barcelona were unhappy that a penalty was not awarded.

Speaking in the mixed zone after the game, Musso had said: “How could that be a penalty? No way. It hurt me too because he collided with my foot.”

Courtesy: Instagram

“I made a natural movement to try and cover the goal. As he crouched down to head the ball, he caught my foot. I don’t understand how anyone could think it was intentional to hit a teammate in the mouth like that,” he added.

Now, Musso has taken to social media to explain his side of things, while also revealing that he had apologised to Fermin for what went down.

In an Instagram story titled “It hurt me,” Musso explained: “This is a very common expression in Argentina to refer to when you feel and empathise with the pain of another.”

“Under no circumstances can it be interpreted as meaning that the blow to my foot actually hurt me. As some people wanted to interpret it…”

Musso wanted to end his statement with an apology to the Andalusian attacker: “I apologised to Fermin both on and off the field because in my natural movement to cover the goal we collided and he was injured.”