Barcelona ahead Raphinha is having fun with a effective season, and in all chance his finest but. In opposition to Benfica, because the Blaugrana snatched victory within the Champions League he was on the centre of consideration each on and off the pitch.
The Brazilian hit an unlikely brace, together with his first aim deflecting inadvertently off his head and into the aim following a go from Benfica goalkeeper Anatoli Trubin. The second was all to his credit score, as he raced behind the defence within the 96th minute earlier than slicing inside and firing previous the Ukrainian goalkeeper.
Raphinha was given the Participant of the Match award by UEFA all the identical, but it surely took a while for him to look in entrance of the media. Barcelona gave away a delicate penalty within the first half, however got certainly one of their very own for a light-weight contact on Lamine Yamal, and prevented a spot kick in the identical play by which Raphinha scores. He was requested whether or not he most popular UEFA referees to these in La Liga, to which he had an eyebrow-raising response.
“If I say what I believe, perhaps they wouldn’t let me play in La Liga once more,” he advised .
The context comes from this previous weekend, have been Barcelona have been denied what they felt was a transparent penalty on Jules Kounde, late on throughout their 1-1 draw with Getafe. The referee was not known as to take a look at the monitor by the VAR, sparking outrage from the Blaugrana.
Supervisor Hansi Flick has tried his finest to keep away from controversy this season, however clearly didn’t really feel it was even debatable, primarily based on his . Barcelona President of the choice, in what he sees as an ongoing problem in Spanish soccer – virtually with out exception, each crew in La Liga feels they’ve been a sufferer of officiating this season.