FIFA World Cup 2022: Portuguese players blame 'Argentine' referee for World Cup exit

Portuguese player Bruno Fernandes has slammed the match officials after his side crashed out of the World Cup.Talking after the match,Fernandes said that Argentinereferee Facundo Tello should not have been given the responsibility to officiate the match.

"I don't know if they're going to give the cup to Argentina. I don't care, I'm going to say what I think, and screw them. It's very strange that a referee from a team that's still in the cup officiates us. They've clearly tilted the field against us."

Meanwhile, 39-year-old Pepe also echoed his teammate's statements and added that the referee did not allow his side to play in the second half.

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"We dominated the game 100 per cent of the time, I think what the referee did today; this is an Argentinian referee. After what Messi said yesterday, it seems there's something very weird. We couldn't play in the second half because the referee kept stopping the game."

"Their goalkeeper was always stopped, only added eight minutes of injury time. After what I saw today, they can now give the title to Argentina.”

Notably, after Argentina's hard-fought victory over the Netherlands, Lionel Messi in an interviewtook a shot atrefereeLahoz who handed as many as 18 yellow cards during the course of the match, setting a new record in the process.

"I don’t want to speak about referees because they will sanction you. But people saw what happened. I think FIFA must take care of this.It cannot put a referee like that for a match of such magnitude, of such importance. The referee cannot fail to be up to the task," said Messi.

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was blunt in his assessment of the referee and said, "Hopefullywe don't have that ref anymore...He's useless!"

Read more:Messi, Martinez slam referee and Dutch coach after tense quarterfinal win

Portugal went into the match with an unchanged XI named by manager Fernando Santos. Ronaldo found himself on the bench again. However, unlike the game against Switzerland, Portugal's attack could not penetrate the water-tight defence of the Moroccans.

The goal fromYoussef En-Nesyri in the final minutes of the first half was enough for Morocco to see through the game and become the first African country to reach the final four stage of the World Cup.

(With inputs from agencies)

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