{"id":4935,"date":"2026-04-15T02:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/4935\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T02:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T02:47:09","slug":"barcelonas-raphinha-blasts-referees-over-robbery-in-ucl-clash-vs-atletico-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/4935\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona\u2019s Raphinha blasts referees over \u2018robbery\u2019 in UCL clash vs Atletico Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Barcelona<\/a>\u2018s hopes of winning the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League were extinguished on Tuesday after falling short of overturning the aggregate deficit despite a 2-1 win at the Metropolitano. The controversy surrounding the tie against Atletico Madrid, however, is far from over, with star forward Raphinha<\/a> pulling no punches in calling out what he described as a \u201crobbery\u201d by the referees across the entire quarterfinal series.<\/p>\n

Raphinha had been one of the most significant absentees for Barcelona after picking up an injury during the March international break with Brazil, ruling him out of both legs against Atletico<\/a>. Although he traveled to Madrid with his teammates to show his support, he made his feelings about the officiating crystal clear when addressing the media in the mixed zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis match was a robbery. The refereeing had many issues; the decisions he made are unbelievable. Atletico committed I don\u2019t know how many fouls, and the referee didn\u2019t show them a single yellow card. I really want to understand his fear of Barca actually making it through the tie,\u201d Raphinha said.<\/p>\n

Among the most consequential decisions that went against the Blaugrana were the red cards shown to Pau Cubarsi in the first leg and Eric Garcia in the second, though both dismissals left little room for argument, with each player having fouled as the last man.<\/p>\n

One of the more contentious moments from the first leg arose when Marc Pubill appeared to handle the ball after Juan Musso restarted play from a goal kick, only for the officials to wave away the appeals on the grounds that the ball was not yet in play. On the foul count, Atletico committed 15 compared to Barcelona\u2019s eight in the second leg, yet the Colchoneros escaped without a single yellow card on the night.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

How much do Atletico Madrid and PSG earn for advancing to the Champions League semifinals?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

For Raphinha, the accumulation of those decisions across both matches points to something more than isolated errors. \u201cIt was tough, especially when you see that you have to put in triple the effort just to win the match. I understand making a mistake in one match, but in two consecutive games?\u201d the Brazilian added.<\/p>\n

Musso responds to Raphinha<\/p>\n

Raphinha\u2019s pointed comments did not take long to make their way around the mixed zone, and Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso was given the chance to respond. The Argentine, who was outstanding across both legs, was having none of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t talk about a robbery. I understand what anyone might say. I respect everyone\u2019s opinion, but let\u2019s not frame the series as if it were a robbery, because that wasn\u2019t the case. We won it on the pitch; we won 2-0 away. Being the last man in football is a red card, unfortunately,\u201d Musso said, directly addressing the dismissals of Cubarsi and Garcia.<\/p>\n

Having made seven saves in each leg, Musso was a central figure in Atletico\u2019s progression through the Champions League<\/a> quarterfinals, and he made a point of acknowledging the quality of the opponent while firmly rejecting Raphinha\u2019s characterization. \u201cThey are a team we respect a lot and one that truly motivates us to play against. They are a great team, but I think talking about a robbery is madness,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona\u2018s hopes of winning the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League were extinguished on Tuesday after falling short of overturning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[179,92,187,94],"class_list":{"0":"post-4935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-barcelona","8":"tag-atletico-madrid","9":"tag-barcelona","10":"tag-champions-league","11":"tag-raphinha"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}