Raphinha has been particularly upset that Barcelona got eliminated by Atlético de Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals: Barça won 1-2 at the Metropolitano, but lost 3-2 on aggregate in a thrilling match where they came close to a comeback, but at no point were ahead of Atleti in the aggregate scoreboard. Speaking in the mixed zone, the Brazilian, currently side-lined due to injury, said that it had been a "robbed match".
"Making a mistake is human, but to do it again in the second leg? We played very well, but this tie was stolen from us. The refereeing was terrible, the decisions he made were unbelievable. Atlético committed countless fouls and the referee didn't even show them a yellow card. I really want to understand his fear that Barça might go through."
The match, just like the first leg, saw a Barça player, Eric García, receiving straight red card, and Barça played the last 10 minutes of regular time (plus 8 of injury time) with ten players. Last week, Barça made a formal complaint to UEFA about a penalty not called in the first leg, but UEFA dismissed the protest as "inadmissible".
According to AS, Raphinha may face a UEFA sanction because of his words, implying it was a robbed match, remembering that Neymar was also suspended for three matches for similar statements. The Brazilian winger was also seen gesturing the Atleti fans at the stadium that they will be eliminated in the next round of the competition.
Juan Musso, Atleti goalkeeper, reacted to Raphinha's words in the mixed zone: "I respect everyone's opinion, but let's not pretend it was a robbery, we won it on the pitch, we won 2-0 away. Last man in football is red card, unfortunately. It is a team we respect a lot, talking about robbery is madness".
