3 min readApr 15, 2026 09:51 AM IST
Barcelona’s Champions League dreams went up in smoke after the Catalan giants lost their second leg of the quarter-final by 2-1 against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night. Giving voice to the resentment in the iconic club’s dressing room, Barcelona forward Raphinha accused the referees of “robbing” them after both games between the two clubs saw a Barca player red carded.
Raphinha’s ire was aimed at referee Clement Turpin, who officiated the second game, and Istvan Kovacs, who was in charge of the first clash.
“As far as I’m concerned, it was a robbery, not just this match but the other one (the first leg) as well,” Raphinha, who missed both games due to injury, told reporters. “I think the refereeing is going really badly; the decisions he (Turpin) makes are unbelievable … I really want to understand why they’re so afraid that Barcelona will come and win.”
According to a report on Reuters, Raphinha was seen making repeated ‘grabbing motion with his hands’ after the game had ended, which is commonly interpreted as a gesture to indicate “stealing”.
“It was tough, especially when you realise you have to work three times as hard to win the match,” Raphinha added. “I think this tie was quite misleading, in my view. I think everyone can make mistakes; everyone is human. But when the mistakes keep repeating themselves in exactly the same way, I think that’s something we need to pay attention to.”
Why was Raphinha angry
In the first leg of the Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid quarters, Kovacs had sent off Pau Cubarsi in the 42nd minute after a VAR review for hauling down Giuliano Simeone as he raced clear on goal, upgrading an initial yellow card.
What made matters worse for the Catalan giants was that Atletico Madrid then scored a goal from the resulting free kick with Julian Alvarez slotting the ball past Joan Garcia.
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In the second leg too, Barcelona would have felt a strong sense of deja vu after Turpin sent off defender Garcia after a VAR review for holding Alexander Sorloth from behind while he ran through on goal.
Media reports said that Barcelona had made their anger known by lodging a formal complaint over an incident early in the second half of the first leg. Barcelona’s complaint was based on an incident where Atletico keeper Juan Musso appeared to put the ball back in play from a goal kick before Marc Pubill handled inside the six-yard box to retake it. Kovacs waved play on and VAR did not intervene, prompting angry reactions from the Barcelona bench. The complaint was rejected by UEFA.
(With inputs from Reuters)
