Barcelona have asked Spain's Court for Sport (TAD) to open disciplinary proceedings against La Liga chief Javier Tebas after he criticised the team's reaction to an empty bottle being thrown in from the stands during a goal celebration.
Tebas said he would be "ashamed to pretend" the way some players went down “like a game of skittles" even though the empty plastic bottle only appeared to hit striker Neymar as Barcelona celebrated Lionel Messi's injury time penalty that secured a 3-2 win in Valencia's Mestalla Stadium.
Valencia were fined 1,500 euros ($1,634.10) by the Spanish football federation (RFEF), who also condemned the Barcelona players for goading the home team's fans.
"Barcelona demands the TAD opens disciplinary proceedings against Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, and members of the RFEF's Competition Committee for their ... reactions and judgements about Barcelona's players when they were assaulted during last Saturday's game against Valencia," La Liga champions Barcelona said in a statement on Thursday.
"Barcelona publicly reproaches Javier Tebas, as president of La Liga, and withdraws all their confidence in him for the time being."
Neymar fell over and remained on the pitch for a moment when the bottle hit him, while Javier Mascherano and Luis Suarez also fell over. Barca's stand-in captain Messi yelled insults at the Valencia fans behind the goal.
RFEF's report, released on Wednesday, accused Barca's players of "unexemplary behaviour" and "feigning they had been struck by the object".
Valencia have banned the 17-year-old supporter who threw the bottle from attending games at the Mestalla for a year.
($1 = 0.9179 euros)
Image: FC Barcelona's Luis Suarez and Neymar grimace in pain after being hit by a plastic bottle during their La Liga match against Valencia on Saturday
Photograph: Twitter
