Barcelona’s Champions League Exit A ‘Robbery ’, Says Raphinha

Barcelona forward Raphinha branded the club’s Champions League quarter-final exit a “robbery” after a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Spanish rivals Atlético Madrid.
Barça suffered a red card in each leg, with Tuesday’s 2-1 home win insufficient to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit.

In both matches, a yellow was upgraded to red following a pitchside monitor review for denying a goalscoring opportunity—Pau Cubarsí dismissed by István Kovács in the first leg, and Eric García by Clément Turpin in the second.

Raphinha, sidelined by injury for both games, told reporters: “For me, this match was a robbery. Not just this one, but the other too. The refereeing was really bad—the decisions [Turpin] made are unbelievable.

“I don’t know how many fouls Atlético committed, but they didn’t get a single yellow card. I want to understand why they’re so afraid Barcelona will win.”

Atlético had no bookings in the second leg (Barça one yellow plus a red), while three Atlético players—including Marc Pubill—were cautioned in the first leg. Pubill handled the ball in his penalty area after goalkeeper Juan Musso appeared to restart play with a goal-kick, but referee Kovács and VAR Christian Dingert allowed play to continue. Barça complained to UEFA over a “grave lack of VAR intervention”, but the protest was ruled “inadmissible”.

Raphinha, 29, added: “It was tough, especially when you work three times as hard to win. This tie was misleading. Everyone makes mistakes—they’re human. But when they repeat in the same way, we must pay attention.”

UEFA stated its disciplinary body would review Turpin’s report before deciding on potential charges against the former Leeds winger. Atlético keeper Musso hit back: “You can’t say this was stolen from them; that’s ridiculous. They acted like they deserved three penalties and we four reds. We won on the pitch—2-0 away—and the last-man rule is clear.”