Foot & Soccer Soccer Match Reports, Football News 
Barcelona discovered themselves at a serious drawback early within the match in opposition to Benfica, as they have been lowered to 10 males in simply the twenty first minute.
Pau Cubarsi was proven a straight purple card for bringing down Vangelis Pavlidis proper on the fringe of the penalty space.
The referee deemed the problem to have denied a transparent goalscoring alternative, leaving Barcelona to battle with a numerical drawback for almost all of the sport.
There was one other controversy
Regardless of this, there was one other controversial second within the first half that might have levelled the enjoying area. Within the forty fifth minute, Leandro Barreiro dedicated a harmful foul that many believed warranted a direct purple card.
The Benfica midfielder went in along with his studs excessive, making direct contact with the best shin of Inigo Martinez. The Barcelona defender was left writhing on the bottom in seen ache, needing time to recuperate.
Nevertheless, regardless of the severity of the problem, referee Felix Zwayer solely confirmed Barreiro a yellow card. The pictures made it clear that the problem was reckless and harmful, but the choice stood.
No intervention from VAR
👀 ¡POLÉMICA en LISBOA!
😱 ¡Pide ROJA el BARÇA por este pisotón de Barreiro sobre Iñigo Martínez!
🟥 ¿Debió haber sido expulsado el del Benfica? pic.twitter.com/2IqNt2Bxjz
— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) March 5, 2025
To make issues worse for Barcelona, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), overseen by one other German official, Bastian Dankert, didn’t intervene.
Regardless of gaining access to a number of replays, the VAR workforce determined that the incident was not severe sufficient to warrant a straight purple card.
They didn’t suggest Zwayer to evaluation the footage on the monitor, despite the fact that Barcelona’s gamers vocally protested in opposition to the choice.
Bookings for Barcelona defenders
Frustration continued to construct among the many Barcelona squad, resulting in additional bookings. Martinez, nonetheless livid over the incident, threw his shin guard to the bottom in frustration, which led to him being cautioned by the referee.
Ronald Araujo additionally acquired a yellow card for protesting the choice. With these bookings, each Martinez and Araujo now have two yellow playing cards within the Champions League, which means they’re only one extra away from serving a suspension.
Barcelona not solely needed to battle with ten males for a lot of the recreation but additionally needed to endure questionable refereeing choices that might have fully modified the result of the match.
