Pepe criticized referee Clément Turpin after FC Porto’s lost Champions League match against Atlético Madrid (1-3). Due to the defeat, the Portuguese have to settle for a winter in the Europa League, while Diego Simeone’s team qualified for the knockout phase of the billion-dollar ball. According to Pepe, the French referee let the Madrilenians go their own way after Antoine Griezmann’s 0-1. The all-deciding duel was full of incidents. Both teams ended the game with ten men.
Porto had enough on Tuesday evening in their own Estadio do Dragão against Atlético Madrid to secure the next round of the Champions League, but saw it go completely wrong in the second half. Griezmann opened the score for the visitors, after which the fire broke out in the 67th minute. Yannick Carrasco was shown a red card for a batting move and was able to attack early. Not much later there was another riot, in which Pepe saw yellow from Turpin.
???????????????????? ??????????? in Porto! ?? What’s going on here?! ??#ZiggoSport #UCL #PORATM pic.twitter.com/YdEHeofUyI
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“In the first half we had a lot of opportunities to take the lead,” Pepe said after the press conference. “We also started well in the second half, but then Atlético’s goal fell and the game was over. They closed it completely and started to play on the counter. The referee then let Atlético go their own way. They were allowed to break the game every time, create chaos and take us out of our rhythm. We lacked a bit of experience to deal with that, we got carried away.”
After the red card from Carrasco, Porto Wendell and banker Augustín Marchesín were sent off with a red card by Turpin. Deep into stoppage time, the match was brought to a close by goals from Ángel Correa and Rodrigo de Paul. Pepe is disappointed that he failed to reach the eighth finals of the Champions League with FC Porto. “We are very frustrated. We didn’t deserve this defeat, we were the better team. But this was symbolic of our group stage: we created a lot of chances, but we don’t finish them. You can’t do that in the Champions League.”