Slovakia coach Dusan Galis has criticised Spain ahead of the second leg of their World Cup play-off, accusing them of being ‘arrogant’.

Slovakia’s chances of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals look remote following their 5-1 defeat to Spain in the first leg on Saturday night, but Galis is still angry at the manner of the defeat.

He believes that Italian referee Massimo De Santis did his team no favours.

“I knew that Spain had not been getting great results and wanted to kill the tie in Madrid, and the referee helped them,” Galis told Marca.

“For example, I was sent off and I did nothing to the assistant (referee). I touched him very lightly and he theatrically threw himself to the ground – it was shameful.

“For us losing is not a problem, but Spain should always win through fair play and with a honest referee, not in the way they won it.

“From the start I knew it wasn’t going to be a fair game.

“Why did he send off (Marian) Had when there were five players protesting. He just decided to show the yellow card to the player who had already been booked.

“The referee was crucial (to the result).

“For the penalty, which was not one anyway, four Spanish players had encroached into the box before Torres had shot. It should have been retaken!

“But there you go, we are out of it now. But I would have preferred to have been killed from the front and not stabbed in the back, that is not sporting.”

Galis was also left angry by the lack of respect accorded his players by their Spanish counterparts.

“It annoyed me when (Jose Antonio) Reyes said he knew nothing about Slovakia, that’s a lack of respect,” Galis continued.

“I have a dog and even he knows where Spain is and how they play.

“I’m sure Reyes probably doesn’t know where London is even though he lives there.

“They (the Spaniards) have disappointed me, Spain are too arrogant.”

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