Barcelona winger Raphinha missed an important match due to injury. However, he caused a stir even from outside the pitch. After his team was knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, he expressed sharp views on the two-legged duel against Atletico.
According to him, unfair decisions were made against his team in the matches that ended with an aggregate score of 2:3. Raphinha strongly criticized the referees' work, emphasizing that their performance was at a very low level.
- "I think this game was openly stolen from us. The referees' work was very poor, and their decisions were incomprehensible," said Raphinha.
The footballer believes that although the opposing side broke the rules many times, the referees did not issue a single warning. He specifically noted that Barcelona was not given a fair chance to win.
- "The opponent broke the rules of the game very often, but the referee didn't give a single warning. I don't understand why Barcelona wasn't allowed to win," said Raphinha.
Raphinha noted that they had to exert several times more effort than usual to achieve success in the game, which made the situation even more difficult.
- "It was hard to understand why we had to put in three times more effort than usual to succeed," said Raphinha.
Although he stated that he understands referee errors are a human factor, he noted that the repetition of similar mistakes in two consecutive matches raises serious questions.
- "Making mistakes is a human factor, I understand that. But what can be said about such mistakes in 2 consecutive games?" said Raphinha.
The player believes that neither of the two games was fair and the opportunity to advance to the next stage was "taken away" from the team. He even said he couldn't understand why the referees were afraid of Barcelona winning.
- "Both games were unfair; they stole the chance for the next stage from us. I want to know why the referees are afraid of Barcelona winning," the footballer said.
Thus, Raphinha's statement has once again brought the topic of refereeing in European football to the center of discussion.
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