3 min learnApr 15, 2026 09:51 AM IST
Barcelona’s Champions League desires went up in smoke after the Catalan giants misplaced their second leg of the quarter-final by 2-1 in opposition to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday evening. Giving voice to the resentment within the iconic membership’s dressing room, Barcelona ahead Raphinha accused the referees of “robbing” them after each video games between the 2 golf equipment noticed a Barca participant crimson carded.
Raphinha’s ire was geared toward referee Clement Turpin, who officiated the second recreation, and Istvan Kovacs, who was in command of the primary conflict.
“So far as I’m involved, it was a theft, not simply this match however the different one (the primary leg) as effectively,” Raphinha, who missed each video games resulting from harm, advised reporters. “I believe the refereeing goes actually badly; the selections he (Turpin) makes are unbelievable … I actually need to perceive why they’re so afraid that Barcelona will come and win.”
In keeping with a report on Reuters, Raphinha was seen making repeated ‘grabbing movement along with his palms’ after the sport had ended, which is usually interpreted as a gesture to point “stealing”.
“It was robust, particularly if you realise it’s a must to work 3 times as arduous to win the match,” Raphinha added. “I believe this tie was fairly deceptive, for my part. I believe everybody could make errors; everyone seems to be human. However when the errors maintain repeating themselves in precisely the identical manner, I believe that’s one thing we’d like to concentrate to.”
Why was Raphinha offended
Within the first leg of the Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid quarters, Kovacs had despatched off Pau Cubarsi within the forty second minute after a VAR assessment for hauling down Giuliano Simeone as he raced clear on objective, upgrading an preliminary yellow card.
What made issues worse for the Catalan giants was that Atletico Madrid then scored a objective from the ensuing free kick with Julian Alvarez slotting the ball previous Joan Garcia.
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Within the second leg too, Barcelona would have felt a robust sense of deja vu after Turpin despatched off defender Garcia after a VAR assessment for holding Alexander Sorloth from behind whereas he ran by means of on objective.
Media experiences mentioned that Barcelona had made their anger identified by lodging a proper criticism over an incident early within the second half of the primary leg. Barcelona’s criticism was based mostly on an incident the place Atletico keeper Juan Musso appeared to place the ball again in play from a objective kick earlier than Marc Pubill dealt with contained in the six-yard field to retake it. Kovacs waved play on and VAR didn’t intervene, prompting offended reactions from the Barcelona bench. The criticism was rejected by UEFA.
(With inputs from Reuters)