Barcelona captain Carles Puyol was very critical of the work of referee Joan Eriksson in their goalless Champions League draw against AC Milan at San Siro.
The Spanish defender was pulled by Djamel Mesbah inside the Milan penalty box during the second half of their quarter-final first-leg encounter, but the referee waved play on.
Barca had another penalty claim unattended as Alexis Sanchez appeared to have been brought down by Christian Abbiati, and Puyol admitted to being frustrated with the officials' work.
"Everyone saw what happened," Puyol told AS after the game. "As I was trying to head the ball, I had my shirt pulled.
"The referee did not want to award us a penalty. I saw it on the screens.
"But we do not have to look for excuses. We have to play. Refereeing is very hard.
"We had a good match and the goal was the only thing we lacked."
Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes also expressed his disappointment with the standard of refereeing, saying: "This has happened a lot of times, we get tired of this.
"I will have to see the replay, from where I was standing I could not see if it was a penalty."
Valdes then called on Barcelona to turn in an improved display in the return leg at Camp Nou and stressed that his side will go out on attack against the Rossoneri next week.
"It is always important to score away from home," the Spanish goalkeeper noted. "We could not do it and now we will have to work very hard in the second leg, especially in defence.
"As coach Pep Guardiola said, if we have to deploy nine strikers, we will. We have to win."
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