Portugal gamers Pepe and Bruno Fernandes lashed out on the Argentine referee in command of their 1-0 World Cup quarter-final defeat by Morocco, claiming his nationality impacted the sport.
Argentina progressed on Friday by beating the Netherlands and may they attain the ultimate, would possibly play towards Morocco in the event that they win their semi-final towards England or France.
The match referee Facundo Tello, his two assistants and the video assistant referee have been all from Argentina.
“It’s unacceptable for an Argentine referee to referee our sport,” Pepe stated on Portuguese tv.
“After what occurred yesterday, with (Lionel) Messi speaking, all of Argentina speaking, and the referee comes right here.
“After what I noticed right now, they can provide the title to Argentina now.”
“What did we play within the second half? The goalkeeper dropped to the bottom. There have been solely eight minutes of stoppage time. We labored exhausting and the referee (solely added on) eight minutes.”
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Argentina striker Messi had complained in regards to the refereeing of his crew’s conflict with the Netherlands, saying an excessive amount of time had been added on.
Portugal’s essential grievance was that too little had been of their conflict with Morocco, vital of supposed time-wasting by the North African aspect within the second half.
Bruno Fernandes complained that much more damage time ought to have been added, and that referees from groups nonetheless concerned within the event shouldn’t be appointed to matches.
“We already know the way it works … earlier than the sport we already knew what we have been in for, and how much referee we’d discover,” stated Fernandes, who was additionally livid after not being awarded a first-half penalty.
“I don’t know in the event that they’re going to present the trophy to Argentina.
“I don’t care, I’m going to say what I feel and screw them. It’s very bizarre {that a} ref officiates us from a rustic nonetheless within the competitors.
“Clearly they’ve tilted the sector towards us.
“Unfortunately, in these competitions, the place there aren’t any Portuguese referees, there are referees from groups which might be nonetheless within the competitors.
“It appears unusual to me, to say the least, however I don’t need to get into that, as a result of that’s not the one purpose we misplaced.
“The referee gave two minutes of damage time within the first half and eight within the second. In this second half, the sport was stopped, at minimal, for between 15 and 20 minutes.”
Fernandes added: “We knew that we’d play towards way more than simply Morocco.”
Argentina overcome scare vs Netherlands | 02:08
However, his coach Fernando Santos didn’t assume the officers made an enormous distinction in his crew’s elimination.
“I don’t assume so, I feel he might have known as for a foul on one or two (extra) events however typically talking I don’t assume so,” stated Santos.
“I feel we might have finished extra and we didn’t achieve this. I don’t assume we should always blame the referee, it doesn’t make sense.”
The coach, who has a contract till after Euro 2024, stated he would focus on his future within the days to return with the Portuguese soccer federation.
Manchester City Ruben Dias believes the crew nonetheless has loads of potential transferring ahead.
“Above all, it will be important at this second, regardless of the troublesome of digesting (the defeat) to build up extra expertise,” stated Dias.
“We have a really younger technology with plenty of high quality and now we have to have religion that nothing is misplaced.”
