Barcelona vs Bayer Leverkusen - Busquets aims to cool ref row

Posted Wednesday, March 07, 2012 by PA

Sergio Busquets has called for Barcelona's players to focus on securing their place in the last eight of the Champions League and leave the refereeing row surrounding the club to other people.

Barca board spokesman Toni Freixa caused a stir at a press conference on Monday with his comments about the club's treatment at the hands of officials this season, while Gerard Pique fanned the flames by declaring his sending off against Sporting Gijon was "pre-meditated".

The issue has put Barca on collision course with the Spanish football federation (RFEF) but Busquets is clear about the fact that the players' thoughts must be solely on Bayer Leverkusen, who arrive at the Nou Camp with a 3-1 deficit from the first leg.

"We want to stop talking about referees. Wednesday is a very important game and what we want is to talk about football.

"If the club must speak out, we (players) are not the people. We are dedicated to play, nothing more. Discussions, debates...the press do them."

As for Pique, who has found himself at the eye of the refereeing storm, Busquets is confident he is able to put the row behind him.

"Gerard is well focused on the match. What happened already happened, and many people have spoken about it. We just think of the Leverkusen game," he said.

Leverkusen travel to Barcelona in confident mood after winning their third straight Bundesliga game at the weekend.

A 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich has boosted the club's chances of qualifying for the Champions League again next season, but despite being heavy underdogs to progress to the last eight, they have not fully given up on remaining in the competition a little longer this year.

The Bundesliga club will be backed by 4,000 fans at the Nou Camp and manager Robin Dutt hopes they return to Germany happy.

"It is great that so many fans will be accompanying us," he said. "Barcelona is definitely worth the trip.

"We go there with self-confidence and will see what we can do with this scoreline."