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Barcelona have filed a second complaint to UEFA over the officiating during their Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid. The Catalan club were furious after being knocked out at the Metropolitano, with star forward Raphinha calling it ‘a robbery’.
The Blaugrana exited the tournament after a 3-2 defeat to Atletico on aggregate, finishing the tie with red cards in both legs. Barcelona claimed that they should have had penalties in both games too, although that idea has been contested by Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona file second complaint to UEFA
Barcelona have now filed a second complaint to UEFA in the space of a week, claiming that the performance of the two officials had a major impact on the final outcome of the match. They claim that multiple decisions were made that ‘did not comply with the laws of the game.’ Their statement also cites ‘sporting and financial harm’ to the club.
First complaint was rejected by UEFA
Last week Barcelona also complained that Atletico defender Marc Pubill should have conceded a penalty for a handball. UEFA did not respond to the complaint, explaining they felt it was ‘inadmissible’. This did not go down well in Catalonia, feeling that the club had been disrespected.
Full FC Barcelona statement:
FC Barcelona has submitted a complaint to UEFA regarding the refereeing performance in the Champions League quarter-final tie played against Atletico Madrid.
The club considers that, across both legs of the tie, several refereeing decisions were made that did not comply with the Laws of the Game, resulting from an incorrect application of the regulations and a lack of appropriate intervention by the VAR system in incidents of clear significance.
According to FC Barcelona, the accumulation of these errors had a direct impact on the course of the matches and on the final outcome of the tie, causing significant sporting and financial harm to the club.
Through this complaint, the Club reiterates the requests previously made to UEFA and, at the same time, offers to collaborate with the organisation with the aim of improving the refereeing system to ensure a more rigorous, fair and transparent application of the Laws of the Game.
