Barcelona forward Raphinha tore into the officiating in their Champions League quarterfinal when his team exited 3-2 on aggregate to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday, having ended both legs with 10 players.
The Brazilian did not play in either match but accused the referees Clement Turpin, who officiated the second game, and Istvan Kovacs, of the first, of “robbing” his team.
“I think it was a robbery, not just in this match but in the other one (the first leg) as well,” Raphinha told reporters after Barca’s 2-1 win on the night proved not enough.
“I have the feeling that refereeing is really going wrong, the decisions he (Turpin) makes are unbelievable… I really want to understand why they fear so much that Barcelona will come and win.”
Television images showed Raphinha making a grabbing motion with his hands repeatedly after the final whistle, gesture that is often used as to indicate “stealing.”
“It is difficult, in particular when you see that you need to work three times harder so you have victory in the match,” added Raphinha.
“I think this was a tie that was very misleading, in my opinion. I believe everyone can make mistakes; everybody is a human being. But when you have the same mistakes being repeated in exactly the same way, I think that’s something we should be paying attention to.”
UEFA has been contacted by Reuters for comment.
Kovacs issued Pau Cubarsi with a red card in the first leg last week, after he brought down Giuliano Simeone when through on goal and was shown a yellow in the 42nd minute — which was upgraded after a VAR review.
From the ensuing free kick Atletico scored, Julian Alvarez curling into the top right beyond Joan Garcia.
Turpin took a similar approach on Tuesday, dismissing Barca defender Garcia following a VAR review for holding Alexander Sorloth from behind as he broke through on goal.
Barcelona had made an official complaint, which was dismissed by Uefa, about one occasion early in the second half of the first leg.
They had been lobbying for a penalty as Atletico keeper Juan Musso seemingly reactivated to the ball from a goal kick before Marc Pubill handled inside the six-yard box to rewind it.
Kovacs waved play on and VAR did not have an interest, inciting angry reactions from the Barcelona bench.