The Barcelona boss was given his marching orders during the
second half for apparent dissent to the team of officials, but he claims that
he did nothing wrong.
"I don't understand it," Koeman said in his
post-match press conference. "According to Carlos Naval, I disrespected
the fourth official, but I didn't say anything bad.
"I didn't insult him. It's incredible. But if the
fourth official wants to be the centre of attention... I said something, but
with all due respect. He responded to me in a way that wasn't so nice.
"He disrespected me. If they put something in the
report that I haven't said, then I'll have to do something about it."
Barcelona had gone ahead on the night through a nicely worked Lionel Messi goal, but they fell apart after half time and their defensive efforts let them down.
"Our concentration in defence wasn't as good in the
second half," Koeman acknowledged. "We created chances to score,
especially at 1-0, but we lost our concentration.
"That's why we lost, and they closed us down well. We
have to accept that we lost, but we're disappointed because this was a big
opportunity.
"Now we have to be ready for Sunday. We've got five
games left and everyone has a tough run-in. We have to win all five games to be
champions."
The setback won't play on Koeman's mind for long, though.
The Dutchman was keen to move his focus onto getting back on track.
"We've won a lot of games," Koeman added.
"We've fought a lot. Despite today's defeat, we have to keep going."