Real Sociedad rage as French-Beninese defender Jules Kounde’s controversial goal rescues Barcelona

Real Sociedad have voiced their anger after French defender Jules Kounde’s controversial equaliser helped Barcelona secure a 2-1 victory at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Sunday.

The Catalan giants climbed back to the top of La Liga, but their comeback was marred by fierce protests from the visitors over the corner kick that led to the goal.

Kounde, whose father is from Benin, levelled the score with a powerful header from a Marcus Rashford corner.

However, Real Sociedad players claimed the ball had gone out for a goal kick beforehand.

Defender Álvaro Odriozola expressed his frustration in Montjuïc: “We claimed it because it had been like that. We played football and we made mistakes.

“The referees also make mistakes. This time, yes. The referee has clearly made a mistake. We don’t have to think about it anymore. There are a lot of people, there are a lot of cameras, it can be corrected. We have to help them because that is a manifest error.”

Because VAR cannot intervene in such situations, the decision stood, leaving the Basque side with little recourse. Much of their anger was directed at referee Alejandro Hernández Hernández, whose call directly preceded the equaliser.

Real Sociedad manager Sergio Francisco echoed the frustration at his post-match press conference: “The 1-1 hurts us a lot because, on top of that, I feel that the whole stadium sees that it’s not a corner; there’s no one on the pitch, except the referee, who sees that it’s a corner, so it bothers me to concede that goal in a situation in which everyone had found the net.

“It’s true that Barcelona took a lot of corners from us and could have put us in another, but we’re angry about that goal because going 0-1 at half-time would have given us a little more time to manage it better.”