Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez Accused of Foul Play in Barcelona vs. Atletico Clash

Luis Suarez is no stranger to indulging in underhand tactics, but Lionel Messi is a player who typically steers well clear of skullduggery. Nonetheless, the Barcelona pair have been accused of foul play during the Blaugrana’s 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

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It was a frustrating night for the Catalans before Messi’s goal put them in front late on, and those frustrations manifested themselves through some undesirable incidents during the match. Suarez—who was ineffective at the point of the Barcelona attack—was involved in various skirmishes and took a questionable fall in the second half, as noted by Marca.

The Uruguayan found it exceptionally difficult to conjure up any space against a cohesive Rojiblancos unit, and his irritation became increasingly apparent. As noted by AS, the former Liverpool forward was beginning to look a little unhinged:

As we can see here courtesy of Transfer News Twitter account, Suarez was furious at decisions going against him:

Suarez picked up a yellow card for his troubles, but Messi managed to steer clear of a caution despite making a nasty challenge on Atletico’s centre-back Miranda. Indeed, according to Radio Marca pundit and former referee Andujar Oliver, the Barcelona No. 10 should have picked up a yellow card from the officials.

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Here’s a look at the incident, courtesy of Richard Ferrari:

In fairness to the referee, this was a very difficult match to officiate. He was under obvious pressure from both sets of players throughout the contest, and any kind of contact was extravagantly accentuated. The tackle by Messi—even though it looks particularly bad in slow motion—is pretty easily missed too, especially given the speed at which the incident occurred.

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Perhaps slightly more concerning to the Camp Nou faithful are the antics of Suarez. When he becomes agitated he typically begins to do mindless things on a football pitch, and given his past history, those are incidents Barcelona will be hoping to avoid. It’s easy to see why the Uruguayan is getting a little hot under the collar, though, per M.A.J:

"

+€81m Luis Suarez struggling to meet his transfer fee... Or any fee for that matter. pic.twitter.com/9h3Cxe2vXc

— M.A.J (@UltraSuristic) January 22, 2015"

But as noted by Dermot Corrigan of ESPN, manager Luis Enrique still has complete faith in his summer signing:

In recent weeks, there have been encouraging signs for Barcelona that the Messi-Suarez-Neymar triumvirate is beginning to flourish. The Uruguayan may find it difficult playing front and centre against packed back fours such as Atletico’s, but this season—when you consider he was banned for the first few months—was always going to be a learning curve.

Suarez has a big role play at Camp Nou, and although the goals aren't flowing just yet, there have been indications that they’re not far off. It’d be a shame if these juvenile incidents—which are sadly part of the package when it comes to the forward—were to stunt any progress.