The coach of Barça, Hansi Flick, has described as “incredible” and “completely wrong” the racist chant directed at Alejandro Balde by the supporters of Getafe.
The young left-back suffered abuse during the first half of the clash in the Spanish capital, prompting him to approach the referee to inform him of what had been said.
Balde told reporters after the match finished 1-1: “Today I received racist abuse, I don’t think it will continue to happen.
“It was in the first half, I warned the referee of the racist insults and he activated the protocol and in the second half there was nothing more.
Flick was asked for his reaction to the situation when he addressed the media, and the first Bayern Munich and the German manager understandably stood by his player and called for action to be taken against those responsible.
“There’s no place for that in football or in life. It’s unbelievable,” Flick said. “In the times we’re living in now it’s totally wrong. Those who do this should stay at home, I think we should fight them, that’s the best thing.
“But also the people around them can do something because it’s unfair. It’s not the respect we want to live with, I think everyone can do something.”
BarcelonaThe manager also weighed in on what was another disappointing La Liga result, missing out on Atletico Madrid’s shock defeat to Leganes on Friday night. On Sunday there was more bad news as Clasico rivals Real Madrid defeated Las Palmas 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu to regain first place for Atleti, seven points ahead of third-placed Barça.
“I’m not worried. I’m aware of the situation, I know we’ve dropped a lot of points in the last few games, that’s not what we want, and we can do much better,” said Flick. “But in the end, it can be seen that we have started the season very well, in this new year, and I am happy about that.
“But now we have to prove it. We have to prove it in Lisbon because it’s a very important game. To win three points there means we go to the next round. That’s what we want, but we have to play much better.”
