Valencia sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch slams referee

Valencia sporting director Jesus Garcia Pitarch has slammed referee Alberto Undiano for his performance in Saturday afternoon's La Liga clash between Los Che and Barcelona.

The end-to-end contest, which was littered with controversial incidents, was decided in the 94th minute when a Lionel Messi penalty secured all the points for Barcelona in a 3-2 win.

Garcia Pitarch has claimed that he was "proud" of his side, but was left "ashamed" by the "pathetic" performance of the referee.

"I'm proud of our team against a Barcelona side that didn't deserve to win this match. The referee? Mr Undiano will feel ashamed when he watches this match back," Garcia Pitarch told reporters.

"There were three very clear actions in a half-hour spell: Messi's goal with [Luis] Suarez offside, [Sergio] Busquets's second yellow and a penalty on Rodrigo. Spanish football can't have such pathetic refereeing. In the second half, we saw a good match that Valencia could've won."

Valencia have now lost six of their nine league fixtures this season, with a total of nine points leaving them in 15th position in the table.