Altercation between Villarreal coaching staff and Barça boss Xavi

Altercation between Villarreal coaching staff and Barça boss Xavi

The benches clashed after Saturday's game at the Estadio de la Ceramica

Barcelona's 3-1 win over Villarreal on Saturday ended with a touchline squabble. Everyone on the Villarreal bench, save Unai Emery, went to find Xavi Hernandez after the final whistle. The Barça coach, however, played down the incident, saying that "in the end we all shook hands and that's it."

Villarreal's coaching staff sought out Xavi at full time to dispute some of the game's key moments with him, especially the handball not given against Gerard Pique in the first half.

Xavi took the downpour from Emery's assistants although, in the end, he showed his character and didn't keep quiet. He defended his interests and pointed out that Dani Parejo was lucky not to be punished for his early foul on Sergio Busquets.

The argument continued into the tunnel although it didn't go any further. In the post-game press conferences, asked about the tension between the two benches, both coaches played it down.

Barça won the game 3-1 with goals from Frenkie de Jong, Memphis Depay and Philippe Coutinho to secure their first away win in LaLiga this season.

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