Benfica does not at all digest the scenario of the match lost against el Barça (4-5) at the end of a last very contentious action in which the Portuguese demanded a penalty.
Stunned and revolted. After leading 3-1, then 4-2, Benfica lost to FC Barcelona (4-5) on Tuesday in the Champions League at the end of a completely crazy and disjointed evening. But the Portuguese cannot digest this scenario, deploring several arbitration decisions against them. According to ABola, Rui Costa, president of the club, came down from the stand to join the locker room at the end of the match in order to ask the referees for explanations on the action of the last goal, scored by Raphinha at the end of added time ( 90th+5).
“It’s a huge mistake”
The Lisbonites believe that they should have benefited from a penalty at the start of the action for a foul by Fermin Lopez who pushed Leandro Barreiro while the latter found himself alone against Wojciech Szczesny. But the referee let him play and, on the counter, Barça snatched the victory. What Bruno Lage, Lisbon coach, did not understand. “The way we conceded the goals… but you also have to look at the other side of the pitch, where we had Fredrik (Aursnes) alone or Di María still alone in the 88th minute,” he analyzed regretting the cartridges blown by his team before tackling the angry subject. “I have to analyze the match and look at what happened in the 94th minute… I think it was a huge mistake on the part of the referee.”
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-“I don't speak for myself or for the supporters, but I noticed that all the experts clearly give the penalty,” he continues. “The fact is that the referee in these situations must have similar criteria compared to Barcelona's penalties, to ours, look at this one. If he awarded the others (three during the match, Editor's note), he must necessarily award this one Then we got into the excitement of calling for a penalty but we should have stopped the action with a foul, we can't allow a Barcelona player to run into the middle of the field to score the goal. . I have to report this moment to the referee.”
Another action caused a reaction, that of the penalty awarded to Barça for a foul by Alvaro Carreras on Lamine Yamal (76th), allowing Robert Lewandowski to reduce the gap to 4-3. If the Lisbonites did not dwell too much on this situation at the end of the match, it caught the attention of the… Madrid press. “He (Carreras) puts his hand on him but he (Yamal) drops when he feels the contact, it's not a penalty,” said former international referee Iturralde González, refereeing analyst for SER and AS.
“It’s clear that the refereeing influenced the match a little, but there are certain details on which the team needs to mature and we will work on that to be able to be stronger in the next match,” concluded Benfica midfielder Florentino.
