FC Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman raged against the referee for not awarding them a penalty in their 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in Saturday’s Clasico, which knocked them off course in La Liga’s three-way title race.

The Catalans had two late penalty claims as they chased the game, with Martin Braithwaite going to ground both times after challenges from Ferland Mendy.

“If you’re a Barcelona fan and you saw this game you’d be very annoyed with two of the referee’s decisions. It was a clear, clear penalty and then he only gave four minutes of stoppage time,” the Dutch coach told Spanish network Movistar.

Koeman, who was also angry when his side were beaten 3-1 by Real last October with the help of a contentious penalty, ended his post-match interview early after asking the Movistar reporter his thoughts on the second challenge.

“Once again we just have to accept it and shut up,” he added.

Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos had put Real two goals up before halftime, with Oscar Mingueza netting for Barca on the hour mark.

Lionel Messi hit the post from a corner in the first half while a shot from Barca substitute Ilaix Moriba came off the bar in the last minute of added time.

In addition to venting his displeasure at referee Jesus Gil Manzano, Koeman admitted his side had made a poor start to the game.

“In the first half we didn’t play well in attack or defence. We were better in the second and all I ask is that the referee makes the right decisions,” he added.

Real coach Zinedine Zidane said it was unfair to say his side had only won because of the penalty call.

“We should be very happy with our performance and you cannot say it was all down to the referee, we deserved the win,” he said.

“If the referee says it wasn’t a penalty it’s because it wasn’t one. The important thing from our point of view is what we did on the pitch.

“We made an excellent start then suffered a bit because Barca are a great side but we had a lot of chances to score the third goal. In the end the win was well deserved.”

The hosts completed the double over Barca in a league season for the first time since 2008 and round off a sensational week after beating Liverpool 3-1 in a Champions League quarter final first leg on Tuesday.

“This is a huge win for us, you could say that it was as important as a final but we’ll have to keep on fighting for a while yet,” said Real defender Nacho.

“We were excellent on the counterattack, we knew they would want the ball and could do us damage with it but we got a two-goal advantage which put us in a very strong position.”

This was Barca’s first defeat time in the league since early December.

“We kept on trying until the end to equalise and we’ll keep on fighting for the title,” said Barca defender Sergi Roberto.

“We had our fate in our own hands before now but not anymore, so we have to win the games we have left and hope the others drop points.”