Refereeing in Atletico tie 'a robbery' - Barca's Raphinha

Barcelona's Champions League journey ended with a 3-2 aggregate loss to Spanish rivals Atletico Madrid. The team's forward, Raphinha, publicly criticized the officiating, stating that the matches felt like "a robbery" due to what he considered poor refereeing decisions.

In both legs of the quarter-final, Barcelona saw a player dismissed after VAR reviews led to yellow cards being upgraded to red for denying goalscoring opportunities. Pau Cubarsi was sent off in the first leg, and Eric Garcia in the second. Barcelona also raised concerns about a specific incident in the first leg where Atletico defender Marc Pubill handled the ball in his own penalty area, but play was allowed to continue without VAR intervention.

Despite Barcelona's formal complaint to UEFA regarding a "grave lack of VAR intervention," European football's governing body declared the club's protest "inadmissible." Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso dismissed Raphinha's claims, stating that Barcelona's accusations of a stolen match were "ridiculous" and that red cards are standard for denying goalscoring opportunities as the last man back.