Portugal bowed out of the 2022 World Cup following a 1-0 defeat to Morocco within the quarter ultimate on Saturday on the Al Thumama Stadium.
Put up sport nevertheless, defender Pepe and midfielder Bruno Fernandes expressed outrage over the appointment of Facunda Tello, an Argentine, because the referee for his or her knockout fixture.
“I’m going to should say it. It’s unacceptable for an Argentine referee to referee our sport. After what occurred yesterday, with Messi speaking, all of Argentina speaking and the referee comes right here,” Pepe stated.
MOROCCO ARE HEADING TO THE SEMI-FINALS! 🇲🇦@adidasfootball | #FIFAWorldCup
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 10, 2022
The Portugal captain in absence of Cristiano Ronaldo additional added, “What did we play the second half? The goalkeeper dropped to the bottom. There have been solely eight minutes of stoppage time. We labored laborious and the referee eight minutes? We didn’t play something within the second half. The one workforce that performed soccer was us. We’re unhappy. We had the standard to win the World Cup and we didn’t handle to.”
Bruno Fernandes additionally raged over the identical. “I don’t know in the event that they’re going to provide the trophy to Argentina,” the Manchester United participant stated.
“I don’t care, I’m going to say what I believe and screw them. It’s very bizarre {that a} ref officiates us from a rustic nonetheless within the competitors. Clearly they’ve tilted the sector in opposition to us,” he added.
Morocco took the lead within the third quarterfinal within the forty second minute following a Youssef En-Nesyri header, which was sufficient to see them by means of to the semifinals, and develop into the primary African nation to take action.