Madrid, April 15 Barcelona forward Rapinha did not hold back in criticism and launched a scathing attack on the refereeing after his team was knocked out of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals by Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.
Barcelona’s 2–1 win in the return leg was not enough to overturn a 2–0 deficit from the first match, as they lost the tie 3–2 on aggregate against their Spanish rivals.
“For me, this match was a robbery. Not just this match but the other one as well. The refereeing was really bad, the decisions [Turpin] makes are unbelievable,” He said as quoted by the BBC.
“I don't know how many fouls Atletico made, but the referee didn't give them a single yellow card. I really want to understand why they're so afraid that Barcelona will come and win,” Raphinha further added.
The Brazilian forward, who missed both legs due to injury, also pointed to a pattern in the officiating across the two matches.
“It was tough, especially when you realise you have to work three times as hard to win the match. I think this tie was quite misleading, in my view. I think everyone can make mistakes; everyone is human. But when the mistakes keep repeating themselves in exactly the same way, I think that's something we need to pay attention to,” he noted.
The clash saw Barcelona reduced to 10 men in both legs following VAR interventions. Defender Pau Cubarsi was sent off in the first leg by referee Istvan Kovacs, while Eric Garcia was dismissed in the second leg by Clement Turpin, with both yellow cards upgraded to reds for denying goal-scoring opportunities.
Barcelona had also raised concerns over a first-leg incident involving Atletico defender Marc Pubill, who appeared to handle the ball inside the penalty area. However, Kovacs and VAR official Christian Dingert allowed play to continue.
Barcelona lodged a complaint with UEFA over what they described as a grave lack of VAR intervention; they demanded acceptance of fault, but the governing body denied their request on Tuesday and termed the protest as inadmissible.
With this loss, Barcelona's 11-year wait to lift the Champions Trophy continues, while on the other side Athletico Madrid has qualified for the semi-finals and would look to end their quest for their first Champions League title. Madrid has reached the finals three times, but finished as runners-up on every occasion.
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