Owen Hargreaves used an incident at his son’s Under-11s match as an example to illustrate his point. (Image: Getty)
Owen Hargreaves jokingly apologized live on TNT Sports for “throwing” his son under the bus after revealing he picked up the ball and awarded a penalty during a recent Under-11s match. The former Manchester United midfielder jokingly cited the incident as an example when talking about the moment Atletico Madrid defender Marc Poubil did a similar act in the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Barcelona.
However, unlike Hargreaves Junior, the 22-year-old escaped trouble at the Camp Nou as referee Istvan Kovac ordered play to continue after Pubil handled the ball six yards inside the box after goalkeeper Juan Musso had already taken the goal kick. The incident understandably infuriated the Catalan club, who filed a formal complaint with UEFA about the referee and asked them to launch an investigation into how the incident happened in the first place.
Hargreaves told TNT Sports: “100%. If you were Hansi Flick or Barcelona, you would definitely be angry and rightly so. I understand you can say, ‘Oh, he made a bad decision’, but if he handled the ball once he kicked it…”
He then jokingly said, “It’s funny, my son did that the other day during a game (lol), and I just happened to pick it up and we were all like, ‘What are you doing?'”
“And the referee, I mean, it was less than 11 o’clock, so he handed over the pen. Isn’t that what the law says? And it had a huge impact on the match, so I can completely understand Hansi Flick’s feelings…
“I’m sorry for throwing your son under the bus there!”
TNT presenter Becky Ives responded: “You have some, right?”
Express sports on FB! Get all the best sports news and more on our Facebook page
István Kovac (Image: Getty)
It’s no exaggeration to say that Barcelona are furious, going so far as to issue a statement on Thursday that read: “FC Barcelona has informed us that the club’s legal authorities have today lodged a complaint with UEFA regarding the events that took place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg against Atlético Madrid. The club believes that the referee did not comply with current law and had a direct influence on the conduct and result of the match.”
“The complaint centers on a specific act: in the 54th minute of the match, after play had correctly restarted, an opponent player picked up the ball inside his own area without being presented with a corresponding penalty. FC Barcelona understands that this decision was a serious error, along with a serious lack of intervention by VAR.”
“The club has therefore requested the opening of an investigation, access to referee communications and, where applicable, a formal acknowledgment of the mistake and the relevant measures taken.”
“In line with the same idea, FC Barcelona believes that in the recent UEFA Champions League, this is not the first time that an inexplicable decision by a referee has negatively affected the team, creating a clear double standard and preventing it from competing against other clubs on a level playing field.”
