By Bruce Watson

27th Dec, 2020 | 9:00pm

Burnley ace hits out at Leeds star following controversial incident in 1-0 win

Burnley’s Ashley Barnes has criticised Leeds United goalkeeper Illan Meslier after he collided with Clarets defender Ben Mee during Sunday’s win at Elland Road. 

Leeds beat Burnley 1-0 on Sunday thanks to an early Patrick Bamford penalty but a controversial incident later in the first half has stolen the headlines.

Meslier collided with Mee when trying to catch a floated Burnley ball into the Whites’ box but the referee blew for a foul on the young goalkeeper before Barnes fired the ball into the Leeds net.

Speaking after the game, Barnes suggested that Meslier tried to purposely ‘smash’ Mee and said that the ‘goal’ that followed should have stood.

The Yorkshire Evening post quote Barnes as saying, “The keeper tried to smash Ben Mee, missed the ball and I put it in.

“I don’t know why it was ruled out. There were so many decisions all day, it’s frustrating.”

There is an argument to say that Burnley’s goal should have stood or that the away side should’ve had a foul of their own.

But it is quite serious to accuse Meslier of purposely trying to clatter into Mee when it was clearly just a misjudged jump from the young goalkeeper.

Meslier clearly only had eyes for the ball and as challenged with Mee and to suggest otherwise is borderline ludicrous.

These quotes from Barnes could just be sour grapes after his side failed to score past Meslier during Sunday’s game.

The Frenchman was arguably the Whites’ man of the match as he kept another Premier League clean sheet during what was an important win for his side.

In other Leeds United news, fans were blown away by this player’s “MOTM” performance against Burnley.