FIFA 2022: Pepe slams Argentine referee after Portugal’s loss against Morocco
Morocco created history when the faced the Euro 2016 winners Portugal as they became the first ever African team to reach the semifinal of the FIFA World Cup. Morocco qualified for the last four after defeating Ronaldo’s side by a narrow margin of 1-0 in the quarterfinal at Al Thumama Stadium. But after the match Portugal’s captain Pepe was surely not happy about how the game ended and he was fuming about it.
And because of his anger he later on a gave an interview majorly criticising the referee’s decision, he said “It’s unacceptable for an Argentine referee to referee our game, FIFA can now give the title to Argentina. I can bet that Argentina will be champions.
After what happened yesterday, with Messi talking, all of Argentina was talking and the referee comes here to blow the whistle. I’m not saying that he comes here conditioned … but what did we play the second half? We weren’t allowed to play the second half.”
Argentina referee Facundo Tello was in charge of the quarter-final clash between Portugal and Mexico. Pepe must have said these statements in relation to the rivalry that Lionel Messi and his team mate Cristiano Ronaldo has cause now the Argentine captain has progressed to the semi finals but Ronaldo is out of the World Cup.
However, later on Fernando Santos who is the coach of the European side said that the referee’s decisions wasn’t the only reason they got knocked out, as he clearly stated that his team should have performed much better. All in all, Morocco were really balanced and it was a simply a masterclass from them in the quarter finals and now they’ll face the defending champions France in the semis.
