BREAKING NEWS: Barcelona defender no longer ‘untouchable’ for the club—report
There is no doubt that FC Barcelona have declined significantly since their triumphant last season. While the club is not exactly excelling in any area of the pitch, the defense has particularly regressed in its performances.
Taking things at a more individual level, the player whose form at Barcelona is raising a lot of concern is the center-back, Jules Kounde. The Frenchman is experiencing the worst time of his Barcelona career, and this difficult period is showcased not only by his performances on the pitch but also because of his demeanor in the locker room.
Away from the pitch, Kounde has also not been a very lively presence in the locker room as well. Although he usually remains limited to himself, sources from the locker room indicate he has been even more subdued than normal in the last few weeks.
The recent report from SPORT has identified several factors that could be responsible for the Frenchman’s problems. Sportingly, he has played 660 minutes in only 20 days, almost seven full matches, and has played all the possible minutes since the start of 2024.
Furthermore, the reason that he is once again playing on the flank despite his express request to play in the center can be another reason for his low spirits. Similarly, Kounde also lost two of his friends in the locker room, Franck Kessie and Ousmane Dembele, last summer, and this could also be a reason for his subdued presence in the locker room.
The report further indicates that Barcelona are extremely concerned about the form that Kounde is going through, and the Catalans are already opening up to the idea of him leaving in the summer.
Furthermore the emergence of Pau Cubarsi put another option in Xavi’s hands for the backline, and the fact that Kounde is losing value with every poor showing means he is no longer an untouchable in the squad.
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Conversation between referee, VAR over penalty incident from Barcelona vs Real Madrid leaked: “Accidental, never a pen”
The referees and VAR have been under the spotlight in La Liga over the past week after the controversies that went down during the game between Real Madrid and UD Almeria last weekend.
As many as three dubious decisions were made in favour of Los Blancos during that game at the Santiago Bernabeu, sparking the fury of Almeria players and manager.
Barcelona have not been quiet on the matter either with both Xavi Hernandez and Joan Laporta calling out their arch-rivals for pressuring referees through the Real Madrid TV videos.
With all the controversy going on, Gerard Romero had leaked an audio recording of the discussion between the referee and VAR during the Real Madrid-Almeria clash.
El Clasico recording leaked
Now, Romero has gotten his hands on another audio recording of discussions between the referee and the VAR from the first El Clasico of the season between Barcelona and Real Madrid in La Liga.
The game was played back in October last year at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, which Real Madrid ended up winning 2-1.
During the match, there were one or two suspicious decisions made by the match official, one of which was Barcelona being denied a clear penalty after Aurelien Tchouameni had put his arm around Ronald Araujo inside the box.
The recording that Romero has leaked now reveals the conversation between the referee and the VAR regarding the incident.
Even though they acknowledge that Tchouameni had gotten his arm around Araujo, they believe that it was not worth a penalty, dismissing the incident as ‘accidental’.
“He puts his hand over him, of course, but there is never a penalty. There’s nothing, he grabs him and jumps up… Accidental.”
“He kind of puts his hand on him and pushes him back, but it’s not a penalty.”
If it was not clear before, the game against Almeria made it fairly obvious that there may be some favourable treatment being handed to Real Madrid by officials.
It has been reported that if there were no VAR errors made this season, Barcelona would be above Real Madrid in the league table. But as things stand, Xavi’s men are third in the standings, eight points below leaders Girona and seven behind Los Blancos.
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