Pepedefense of Portugalwas very critical of the arbitration of the trans-Andean Facundo Tello in the fall of the Portuguese against Morocco in the quarterfinals of world and assured that, in view of matches like this, “Argentina will be champion.”
The Porto defender recalled Lionel Messi’s criticism, after the Albiceleste’s victory against the Netherlands, stating that it is unacceptable that an Argentine judge directed this match.
“FIFA has to review it. They cannot put a referee who is not up to the task in this instance”, said the star of the Albiceleste, referring to the role of the Spanish Mateu Lahoz.
“It was unacceptable to have an Argentine referee directing the game. After what Messi said yesterday, an Argentine arrives and whistles. Nothing was played in the second half and it only added eight minutes”, Pepe started pointing out.
“We work very hard. Eight added minutes and nothing was played. In the second half we just wanted to play. We are sad, we had the quality to win, unfortunately we didn’t manage to do it”, added the Portuguese defender.
Along the same lines, Pepe insisted that “we had the ability to win this world cup. Later, we had the feeling of the arrogance of the refereeing team. Argentina will be champion. There were five Argentine referees… What else can I say”.
To close, the Portugal defender stressed that “we conceded a goal we didn’t expect, but I have to say that this is stronger than me and I’m going to have to say it: it is unacceptable for an Argentine referee to referee our game. After what happened yesterday, with Messi…”.
