Barbarouses slams Ryall for "diving"

Melbourne Victory forward Kosta Barbarouses accused Sydney FC opponent Sebastian Ryall of "blatant simulation" in the heated Round 17 Big Blue.

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Kosta Barbarouses fires past Sebastian Ryall during the Big Blue. He would fire right at him days later. (Getty) Source: Getty Images

Barbarouses did not hold back on Tuesday, with emotions still running hot at Victory three days after the 3-3 draw.
Ryall earned a controversial penalty at home on Saturday night, which Sydney converted, and over the incident.

Barbarouses has no doubts that it was a dive and he hopes karma will be unkind to Ryall.

He also wants video reviews brought in and full-time referees to help improve the standard of officiating in A League games.

But he saved his strongest comments for Ryall.

Asked if players had some responsibility in such circumstances, Barbarouses replied: "Absolutely. There are going to be instances in the box where you feel a slight nudge or you've been clipped a little bit, where you're going to fall down to try to make the decision easier.

"But that was a blatant simulation from my eyes and that has to be stopped as well.

"You lose a bit of respect for him and his reaction wasn't great ... hopefully karma will come around.

"That's something they have to deal with in the culture of their team, not ours."

Barbarouses added that it felt like a loss after the match and that Victory was hard done by.

"It (refereeing) has cost us a few times this year," he said.

"But these are the things that are out of our hands, we can't improve the standards of that.

"We can only improve our own standards.

"I'd rather go on and win the league with decisions going against us than having everything handed to us."

Barbarouses had some sympathy for the A League referees, saying everyone makes mistakes.

"Maybe we could bring in a video review for major decisions like that," he said.

"Obviously making the referees full time will only help the situation as well.

"He doesn't get the chance to have a second look at it and he probably can't reverse his decision.

"I'm sure if he looked at the big screen in the stadium, he would have reversed it, but it's something that's not going to happen."

Victory takes on Brisbane Roar on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.


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2 min read
Published 17 February 2015 2:16pm
Updated 17 February 2015 2:28pm

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