ATLETICO MADRID WERE not at all happy after losing last night’s Champions League quarter-final first-leg with Barcelona.
With the game finely balanced, Fernando Torres was sent off, prompting protests from the Atletico bench, while Barca’s two-goal hero Luis Suarez was seemingly fortunate to stay on the field after lashing out twice off the ball.
Officials and Uefa were consequently accused of a pro-Barcelona bias as a result of these decisions, with the Twitterati leading these calls, while even some Atletico players semed to subscribe to the theory.
Torres apologised for his sending off after the game, but also claimed the red card he received was unjust.
“They shouldn’t have been cards. If it had been the other way around then they wouldn’t have been given,” Torres told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope.
“With 11 (men) we would have won without any doubt.”
Jose Mourinho infamously once claimed Uefa were orchestrating a “plot” to put Barcelona in the Champions League final, and Atletico defender Filipe Luis also believes the organisation tend to favour the Catalan side.
“I don’t know what Barca players have to do to get sent off just like us,” Luis told Spanish TV station MEGA.
“You can tell there is fear that Barca will be eliminated.”
Atletico’s players’ choice of words could prove costly should Uefa feel the need to impose bans on those that have launched attacks on German referee Felix Brych.
Coach Diego Simeone was more measured in his criticism and was happy to escape Catalonia with the tie still in the balance.
“I’m not angry with Torres, for sure. It’s for you to find out (if it was fair),” he told a media conference.
“It was similar to Arda Turan at the Santiago Bernabeu last year. The referees are there to decide.
“I’m not saying everything I want to say, that’s for sure. I’m trying to think about what to say about the game and the refereeing.”
Meanwhile, football fans also took to Twitter to express their annoyance at the perceived bias towards Barca…
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Additional reporting by AFP
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