After the unexpected loss to Morocco in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, the players of the Portuguese national football team did not hide their disappointment with the refereeing and believe that the Argentine national team is being illegally helped in this tournament, writes “Marca”.
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It has already been announced that Portugal lost 0:1 to Morocco in the quarter-finals on Saturday, leaving the tournament. Morocco, on the other hand, became the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
“It is unacceptable that a referee from Argentina is officiating our game,” said Portugal veteran Pepe. The match between Portugal and Morocco was refereed by Facundo Tello, which caused outrage among the Portuguese
Bruno Fernandes was even more aggressive in his post-match interviews. The press secretary of the Portuguese Football Federation tried to calm him down, but he indicated that he didn’t care.
“I don’t know if they are going to give the cup to Argentina,” Fernandez said. “I’ll say what I want. To hell with all of them. It’s very strange that our game is refereed by a referee from a country that is still competing in the World Cup. And there is no referee from Portugal. The Portuguese can referee the Champions League, so they can work here as well. The referee of this game has no experience in the Champions League. They deliberately put us in a difficult situation. In the first half, I should have been called for a foul in the penalty area.”
Fernandes said that they already knew before the game what kind of referee this would be. Also, he believes that the compensation time should have been 15 or 20 minutes long, instead of eight minutes. “The game was stopped very often. Our opponents were not only Morocco and we had to do everything in 90 minutes,” Fernandez continued.
Although Pepe was more reserved in his comments, he recalled Lionel Messi’s comments about the officiating after the win over the Netherlands.
“It is unacceptable that a referee from Argentina directs our game after what Messi said after their match,” explained Pepe. “In the second half, the Moroccans didn’t play, but the stoppage time was only eight minutes. We worked very hard. We are very sad because we had the quality to win, but we couldn’t do it.”
Pepe was referring to comments made by Messi and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez about Spain’s Antonio Mateu Laos.
“I don’t want to complain about the referees because then I will be punished, but before the game we were scared because we knew what was coming,” Messi said. “FIFA must look into it. FIFA cannot allow such a match to be officiated by such a referee who is not at the appropriate level.”
Martinez added that Argentina had the worst referee at the World Cup. “He gave 10 minutes of stoppage time, I don’t understand why he gave a free kick. He wanted a draw in normal time. This referee is crazy and conceited. Since Spain were out, I think he wanted us to go out too.”
On the other hand, the long-time leader of the Portuguese national team, Cristiano Ronaldo, did not criticize anyone, but he could not hide his sadness.
“Winning the World Cup with Portugal was the biggest and most ambitious dream of my career. Unfortunately, that dream ended yesterday. I gave everything on the pitch. I have never shied away from a fight or given up on this dream. I was always just another player on the pitch fighting to score goals. Would never turn my back on my teammates and my country,” Ronaldo wrote on his Instagram profile on Sunday
