Barcelona striker Luis Suarez called Espanyol
players "a waste of space" in an angry
confrontation following an ill-tempered Copa del
Rey match between the local rivals on
Wednesday night.
The physical match ended 4-1 in Barca's favour,
with eight Espanyol players booked during
proceedings and two sent off.
After the final whistle, a scuffle between the two
teams occurred in the tunnel where, according to
referee Martinez Munuera's report, the former
Liverpool man taunted his opponents.
"At the end of the game, once in the tunnel,
Barca's No. 9, Suarez, Luis, while the Espanyol
players were coming up the stairs, waited for
them and shouted at them on various
occasions," the report says, according to the
Mirror.
"He said: 'I'm waiting for you, come here! You're
a waste of space.'
"It provoked a confrontation between players of
both clubs and the present security guards had
to get involved, as did coaches of both teams."
Andreas Iniesta played down the incident in his
post-match interview, saying that a heated
contest is part and parcel to local derbies.
"Violence is a very strong word, in games like
this there's a lot of rivalry and contact," he said.
Later, Espanyol midfielder Papakouli Diop was
less diplomatic when speaking to Cadena SER:
"You can't say we were violent. We didn't draw
blood. If we wanted, Barca players would've left
on a stretcher."
Espanyol will host the return leg of the Copa del
Rey tie on Jan. 13.
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