‘I told him to stop’ - Lamine Yamal sent harsh message by Espanyol boss after Barcelona win

Espanyol boss Manolo González was not a happy man after seeing his team beaten 2-0 by Barcelona on Thursday night.

González was particularly critical of Lamine Yamal after seeing the teenager score a brilliant goal and then get Leandro Cabrera sent off.

Cabrera was shown a straight red card for hitting out at Yamal, but the Espanyol boss thinks the teenager made a meal of the incident.

“We’re ruining football. Cabrera’s move isn’t strong enough to cause injury or damage,” he told the media. “It wasn’t an assault, a blow to the face, or a hard tackle. I told Lamine to stop diving. It wasn’t necessary to dive in that action.”

Gonzalez also whined about the result and felt his team deserved more out of the game.

“The result wasn’t fair. We knew what kind of match we were going to face,” he added. “We had very, very clear chances to score. It’s a shame because it’s a match where at least a draw was expected. If we had taken the lead in the first half, it could have been a different story.”

Espanyol’s defeat leaves the team five points above the final relegation spot with just two games of the season left to play.

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