"One player is punished and another is rewarded": Bellerin escalates his criticism of refereeing after the Barcelona match

He refused to blame the officiating for the defeat

Hector Bellerin didn't hide his frustration at the refereeing during Real Betis' 5-2 defeat to Barcelona at La Cartuja, claiming the punishments weren't dished out equally between the two sides. He stopped short of blaming the officials for the loss, though.

Speaking to DAZN, the defender called Barcelona a difficult challenge for anyone, and said the game had spells of parity before certain decisions shifted its course.

He added: "Defending against Barcelona is extremely difficult. The match was even at times, but then there were some unfair decisions for both teams. The punishments are not equal."

"We cannot afford that red card," the Betis man continued. "I spoke with Bernal, and he apologised to the team, but even with a man down, we held out against them until the end, before collapsing in the final minutes."

Bellerin comments on Betis's disallowed goal

Giovani Lo Celso's goal was another sore point. VAR ruled it out for a handball at the start of the move, and Bellerin reckons cases like that one leave too much room for doubt.

He said: "The referee's job is extremely difficult, but these are very questionable incidents, in which one player is punished and another is rewarded, but I don't want to use that as an excuse."