Roura reeling at Mallecano appointment

Barcelona assistant coach Jordi Roura has slammed referee Alberto Undiano Mallecano ahead of their Copa del Rey clash with Real Madrid.

Barcelona assistant coach Jordi Roura has slammed referee Alberto Undiano Mallecano ahead of their Copa del Rey clash with Real Madrid.

Mallecano took charge of Barcelona’s only La Liga defeat this season at Real Sociedad, and will officiate again for the semi-final second leg at Camp Nou on Tuesday.

He also refereed the 2011 Copa del Rey final between Real and Barca, won by Madrid, and the Barca assistant expressed his disappointment at the decision.

“He (Mallecano) is the referee we have for tomorrow, we can’t do anything about that,” Roura said.

“We are not supposed to judge whether he is a good or a bad referee, but it is a fact that with him our stats are worse than with anyone else. There’s no need to go further: our only league defeat was with this referee.

“And, obviously, we all still have fresh in our memory the permissiveness he showed in the last cup final we played against Madrid. We are aware of that, so we can only wish him luck.

“The best thing that can happen to a referee is to be completely unnoticed and that his decisions don’t mark the game result.”

Roura condemned some of Real’s tackling in the 1-1 first leg draw at the Bernabeu back in January.

Despite the luxury of an away goal, Roura doesn’t believe Barca are favourites to reach the final even though they will host the second leg.

“Obviously I prefer to play this match in Camp Nou because we are going to be with our fans and that always helps a lot,” he said.

“But in this sort of matches to talk about who is favourite is very difficult as they are used to be very tough ones. In the end little things will decide everything.”