Barcelona star Raphinha could be in hot water after the Blaugrana exited the Champions League at the hands of Atletico Madrid. The Brazilian did not hold back following a 3-2 aggregate defeat at the Metropolitano.
Raphinha traveled to Madrid to support his teammates, and was seen out on the pitch before the match with them. He joined the rest of the squad on the bench during the game, and was seen gesturing to the Atletico Madrid fans afterwards, seemingly indicating that they would be going out in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Raphinha comments: ‘The game was robbed’
He also spoke to the media shortly after the match. Telling the cameras that “the game was robbed,” Raphinha indicated that in his eyes, the refereeing decisions went against Barcelona in both legs of the quarter-final. A second time he doubled down on implying that the referees were deliberately against the Catalan giants.
“The refereeing has been terrible; it’s unbelievable the decisions he’s made. Atletico committed countless fouls, and the referee didn’t even show them a yellow card. I really want to understand his fear that Barca might get through to the next round.”
Raphinha could face Champions League ban
As per MD, Raphinha could be punished for his actions. They say that the UEFA sanction could be as much as a three-game ban for infringing on the basic code of conduct for players, in this discrediting the sport, and in particular, UEFA. The same ban was handed out to compatriot Neymar Junior in 2019, after he criticised officials in 2019, when Paris Saint-Germain were eliminated by Manchester United.
He would serve the ban next season in the Champions League. Diario AS also say that his gestures to the Atletico Madrid fans could result in sanctions too, after Real Madrid’s players were sanctioned at the same stadium for gestures to the Atletico fans. In that instance, Kylian Mbappe, Dani Ceballos and Jude Bellingham were fined, and only Antonio Rudiger was hit with a ban, after making a ‘cut-throat’ gesture.
