Barcelona star Raphinha blasts 'deceitful' UEFA Champions League quarter-final defeat against Atletico Madrid as 'a stolen game'

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Raphinha has insisted that poor refereeing "stole" Barcelona's place in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, after they were knocked out of the competition by La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid.

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The Blaugrana were beaten 2-0 in the first leg at the Camp Nou after Pau Cubarsi saw a yellow card upgraded to a red following a controversial consultation with the video assistant referee.

They also felt they should have had a penalty after Atletico's Marc Pubill appeared to handle the ball in the box, but a post-match complaint regarding a lack of VAR intervention was dismissed by UEFA.

The second leg saw Barca take a 2-0 lead on the night, pulling level in the tie, before Ademola Lookman’s goal made it 3-2 on aggregate.

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Barca pushed for a late equaliser, but they were reduced to 10 men yet again after Eric Garcia’s red with 11 minutes remaining, and Atletico held on.

Raphinha missed the two matches due to injury, but he believes that both legs were "stolen" by below-par refereeing.

”It's related to the refereeing - for me, it was a stolen game,” he told TNT Sports Brasil post-match. ”Not only this one, but others as well.

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”I think the refereeing was very bad. It's incredible the decisions he made. Atletico committed I don't know how many fouls, and he judged them but didn't show them a yellow card.

”I really wanted to understand their fear of Barcelona coming to win.”

Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth scored the two crucial goals that handed Atletico their first win at the Camp Nou since 2006 in the first leg.

Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres found the back of the net in the opening 25 minutes of the second leg, but Lookman’s finish proved to be the match-winner.

Barcelona may be out of the Champions League, but they are still flying high in La Liga, where they are currently nine points clear of Real Madrid in second, and 22 points clear of Atletico in fourth.

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Raphinha proved he is among the most exciting attacking talents in world football last term, and he has impressed again during the 2025/26 campaign, producing 19 goals and eight assists in 31 appearances across all competitions.

However, his season has been plagued by hamstring injuries, and he admitted that it was difficult to watch a ”deceitful” tie from the stands.

”It was difficult, even more so when you see that we need to do three times as much to win the game,” he added.

”I really wanted to understand the fear of these people that Barca would come to win, because making a mistake in one game I can understand, but two games in a row, I think this tie was very deceitful in my view.

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”I think everyone can make mistakes, everyone is human, but when the mistakes keep repeating themselves in the same way, I think that's a point of attention that we all have to pay attention to.”

Atletico will now play the winner of the quarter-final clash between Arsenal and Sporting.

The Gunners came out on top in the first leg in Portugal last week, beating their opponents 1-0 thanks to a late goal from Kai Havertz.

Flick refuses to discuss refereeing decisions

Hansi Flick believes his side deserved to progress, but stopped short of publicly criticising the refereeing, insisting his players need to accept the result.

Flick described the refereeing decisions in the first leg as "really unfair", and praised Barcelona for supporting his players in the wake of last week's 2-0 defeat.

However, he was far more reserved this time around.

"I don’t want to talk about that, because we can’t change it," he said. "We can’t change those things.

"We have to accept it. It’s good for you that I talk about it, but I just don’t want to.

"I think we deserved to be in the semifinals, but we have to accept the result. We played a great series, and I’m proud of my players. We have to accept the result."

Musso criticises Raphinha’s comments

Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Juan Musso disagreed with Raphinha’s assessment, insisting that his side deserved the victory.

"Stolen? Stolen how?" Musso said. "He makes it sound as if there were three penalties that weren't given to them, or four red cards.

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"You can't talk about robbery. I understand what Rafinha says. I understand what anyone can say. I respect eeryone's opinion, but no, no, no, let's not say that the round was stolen because it wasn't.

"We won it on the field. We won 2-0 away. Last man in football is a red card. It's a team we respect a lot and are very motivated to play against. It's a great team, but I think talking about robbery is crazy."

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