Raphinha blasts refereeing as Barcelona crash out of UCL - ESPN

Raphinha raged that Barcelona were «robbed» after watching his teammates get eliminated from the Champions League by Atlético Madrid on Tuesday.

The Brazilian missed the game through injury but traveled to Madrid to see Barça exit the competition at the quarterfinal stage 3-2 on aggregate despite winning 2-1 on the night at the Metropolitano.

Early goals from Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres had drawn Barça level in the tie, but Ademola Lookman's strike ensured Atlético set up a semifinal meeting with either Arsenal or Sporting Club.

Barça's hopes of forcing extra time disappeared late on when Eric García was sent off for a last man challenge on Alexander Sørloth, leaving Raphinha fuming with the referee.

«The game was completely robbed,» he told reporters. «The referee had a lot of problems. Some of the decisions he took were incredible. I don't know how many fouls Atlético made and he didn't book them.»

Barça had appealed for a penalty when Dani Olmo was fouled in the first half, but Raphinha did not reference any one decision.

It marks the second game running Barça have been angered by the match officials in the Champions League, with the club filing an official complaint with UEFA over the failure to award them a penalty and send Marc Pubill off last week.

UEFA ruled that the protest was «inadmissible» earlier on Tuesday.

«It's human to commit one error, but for it to happen again in another game?» Raphinha continued. «We played really well, but this tie was robbed from us.

»It was tough, especially when we see that we need to put in three times the effort to win the match. I really want to understand why [the referee] is so scared of Barça getting through the tie."

After losing the first leg 2-0 at Spotify Camp Nou