Referees Are Punishing Barcelona For Dissent

Barcelona’s players are regularly being booked for remonstrating with referees, with five of the 11 yellow cards they’ve been shown so far this LaLiga Santander season having been for protesting.

Ivan Rakitic, Sergio Busquets and Lionel Messi were all booked for that reason against Athletic Club on Saturday, just as Gerard Pique was against Girona and as Samuel Umtiti was against Real Sociedad.

The other six non-dissent-related yellow cards have gone to Pique and Umtiti again, plus Arturo Vidal, Nelson Semedo, Arthur and Thomas Vermaelen.