Referee Velasco Carballo killed Barcelona's sextuple

Barça, in terms of football, didn’t deserve to win the Spanish Super Cup. Their ridiculous performance at San Mames, when they lost 4-0 to Athletic Club, pretty much sentenced the tie.

Only a miracle comeback at Camp Nou, which would have been epic, would have changed that and given Luis Enrique’s side their fifth trophy of the year. But Barcelona did not jus have to fight against the scoreline on Monday night, but also against the referee. 

The Madrid official Velasco Carballo prejudiced everything that he could and killed off Barça’s chances by unfairly sending off Gerard Pique.

It’s not the first time Carballo has demonstrated his dislike for Barcelona on the football pitch. But it was especially bad here. He didn't add on any time at the end of the first half after allowing Gorka Iraizoz to waste time after Lionel Messi’s goal. 

He also gave Pedro offside when he clearly wasn’t. And then he showed Pique a red card in the strangest of circumstances. 

If it was going to be difficult for Barça to reverse the scoreline, Velasco Carballo made it impossible. Simply lamentable. 

But there’s no need to look for excuses. FC Barcelona lost the Spanish Super Cup (and the chance to win six trophies in 2015) at San Mames. It was a game poorly planned by Luis Enriue and poorly played by the players. 

Velasco Carballo killed off the comeback dream, but Barça themselves didn’t do enough to be crowned champions.