Xavi seethes over VAR decisions as he insists his Barcelona side deserved to beat Real Madrid despite Jude Bellingham-inspired Clasico defeat

Just as it had been in the first Clasico of the season, Jude Bellingham gave Real Madrid all three points against bitter rivals Barcelona late in the game. However, the clash saw a lot of calls take the game away from the Catalans. It all kicked off with Lucas Vazquez going down in the box under a challenge from Pau Cubarsi. However, the main highlight of the night remained Lamine Yamal's disallowed goal, which VAR ruled out due to a lack of goal-line technology. The ball seemed to cross Andriy Lunin's goal line, yet due to a lack of clarity, the VAR sided with the on-field call of no goal.

Speaking to the media, the Barcelona boss said [via AS]: "Everyone has seen the referee’s performance. They can sanction me, but the images are there for all to see. We have been better than Real Madrid and we deserved all three points.

"Marc-Andre Ter Stegen said lack of goalline technology is a shame? Well, I totally agree. It is a shame. Yes, it is, yes. I think yesterday they asked me about the referee and I said I hope he goes unnoticed and gets it right. Well, neither of those things... A shame. If we want to be the best League in the world, we have to move forward and implement technology."

Barcelona's loss has all but handed the La Liga trophy to Carlo Ancelotti's men as they sit comfortably on the top step of the league with an 11-point gap to the Catalan side. This hasn't been the first time that Xavi has taken on the media to criticise the refereeing standard in Spanish football as he has also spoken about the bias towards Real Madrid in their matches. He also criticised the refereeing during Barca's Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain, after Ronald Araujo was shown a red card and the Catalans were denied a penalty for a similar foul to Araujo's earlier in the match.

The Catalan side will next be in action when they take on Valencia on Monday, April 29 as they look to secure second place over Girona who sit just two points behind them with six matchdays remaining.