UCL: We were robbed — Raphinha blasts referee after Barcelona’s exit

Raphinha has strongly criticised the officiating, claiming his team were “robbed” in their Champions League quarter-final elimination by Atlético Madrid.

Despite Barcelona winning the second leg 2-1 in Madrid, they went out 3-2 on aggregate.

Speaking after the match, the Brazilian did not hold back.“For me, we were robbed,” Raphinha told TNT Sports Brasil.

“I don’t want to talk about the refereeing, but we played extremely well.

"They committed, I don’t know, how many fouls, and the referee didn’t even show them a single yellow card. The refereeing was very bad in all the decisions he made. What I really want to understand is, by what criteria is Barça being refereed?”

He added that Barcelona had to “put in three times the effort” to compete, suggesting there is a pattern of unfavourable decisions against the club:

“Making a mistake is human, but the same thing in two consecutive matches? I think the round was completely stolen from us.”

Raphinha’s comments come after controversial red cards for Barcelona players in both legs and what the club felt was excessive leniency towards Atlético’s physical style.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid now advance to the semi-final, where they will face the winners of Arsenal against Sporting CP.

Diego Simeone's men have defied the odds, and are determined to go all the way.

In Tuesday's other clash, PSG advanced to the semi-final with a 4-0 aggregate win over Liverpool, who failed to score a single goal across both legs.