Barcelona's Champions League dream is over, and the club is pointing a firm finger at the officials. In a fiery statement, the Catalan giants have declared that refereeing "errors" directly cost them a place in the semi-finals, inflicting "significant sporting and financial harm."
This marks their second formal complaint to UEFA regarding the officiating across their dramatic quarter-final tie with rivals Atletico Madrid. Despite a valiant 2-1 victory in the second leg, Barcelona fell 3-2 on aggregate, a deficit they couldn't overcome after losing the first leg 2-0.
The heart of Barcelona's frustration lies in two pivotal red cards. In each leg, a yellow card shown to a Barcelona defender—first Pau Cubarsi, then Eric Garcia—was upgraded to red after the referee reviewed the incident at the pitchside monitor for a potential denial of a goalscoring opportunity. The club argues these decisions, along with other non-calls, fundamentally altered the tie's momentum.
Specifically, Barcelona criticized the officiating team for allowing play to continue when Atletico's Marc Pubill appeared to handle the ball in his own penalty area during the first leg, a moment they felt warranted VAR intervention. Their initial complaint about a "grave lack of VAR intervention" was dismissed by UEFA as "inadmissible," but that hasn't stopped them from filing a second, more detailed protest.
In their latest statement, Barcelona claims "several refereeing decisions were made that did not comply with the laws of the game," accusing officials of an "incorrect application of the regulations." The club insists the "accumulation of these errors" directly decided the outcome of the high-stakes clash.
The sentiment was echoed by injured forward Raphinha, who watched from the sidelines. "For me, this match was a robbery," he told reporters. "Not just this match but the other one as well." As the dust settles on another intense chapter of Spanish football rivalry, Barcelona's focus has shifted from the pitch to the protest, determined to hold UEFA accountable for what they see as a costly injustice.