Robin van Persie fumed that his red card was a joke as Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday.
The Gunners were beaten 3-1 at Camp Nou, and 4-3 on aggregate, but in truth never looked on a par with a brilliant Barcelona side in the second leg on Catalan turf.
However, just after a senseless Sergio Busquets own goal had made it 1-1 on the night – and had Arsene Wenger’s men 3-2 up overall – van Persie was shown a second yellow card by Swiss referee Massimo Busacca for having a shot after he had blow for offside.
The official dished out the punishment to the Dutchman for kicking the ball away after the play had been stopped, but van Persie could be seen arguing at the time that he could not hear the whistle in the deafening stadium, and he continued his defence after the game.
The striker, who overcame a knee injury to start in Barcelona, told Sky Sports: "I think (the red card) had a big influence.
"I think it's a total joke - how can I hear this whistle with 95,000 people jumping up (and shouting)?
"That (the fact that just a second had elapsed between the whistle and van Persie’s off-target kick) makes it even worse. I cannot understand that view from the ref.
"If there were four, five, six seconds in between, you can make a check (for offside). One second, it's a joke.
"I tried to explain there were 95,000 people jumping up, how can I hear the whistle?
"He's been bad all evening, whistling against us. I don't know why he's here tonight.
"We feel betrayed a bit, when it was 1-1 it was all to play for and in my opinion this referee killed the game."
Lionel Messi, who had earlier made it 1-0 on the night, sealed Barca’s progression with their third goal from the penalty spot after Xavi had made it 2-1.
Gunners boss Wenger admitted that his young side had been beaten by a great team, but after the game he was seen to remonstrate furiously with referee Busacca, van Persie’s red card the obvious source of his ire.
He later told Sky Sports: "We lost against a good team. In the first half we resisted pressure - I think the second would have been very interesting if we had stayed 11 against 11 - unfortunately it was not the case.
"There are regrets when you see how we went out - the way we did, it is very difficult to accept.
"With the people shouting, if he (van Persie) takes his chance I see no reason to give a second yellow card. To do that, (the referee) must absolutely have never played football.
"I told him what I think about his decision face to face and there is not a lot more to say."
Barca manager Pep Guardiola was sympathetic over the van Persie decision, but was overall in no doubt that his side deserved to go through.
The Barca legend said: "Arsenal defended very, very well but they didn't make more than three passes (in succession) - it was difficult with 10 against 11 and after the situation with the second yellow, I can understand the reaction.
"We created a lot of chances, we played a perfect game. We're so, so happy about our performance. Over the two legs, we were better than them."