Raphinha’s escape from a red card during Barcelona’s La Liga debut on Saturday night has left football fans perplexed. At the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix, the Catalan Giants played Mallorca and jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half. They had a great start thanks to goals from Ferran Torres and the Brazilian, and by halftime, the three points were most likely in the bag.
Manu Morlanes was given a second yellow card in the 33rd minute, and Vedat Muriqi was given his marching orders just six minutes later. The home team received two red cards in the first forty-five minutes. Mallorca faced an almost impossible challenge with only nine guys.
Though many Leeds United supporters believe the former player was lucky not to have been sent off after he surged in with a dangerous tackle on Mateu Morey just before halftime, things wouldn’t have been quite as tough for them if Raphinha had also been sent out in the first half.
Fans Are Infuriated Raphinha Was Not Expelled
Raphinha dived into a violent tackle on Morey as he got the ball on the touchline, sending the Mallorca defender reeling on the ground in pain. Fans are furious on social media after the Barcelona attacker was given a yellow card for the challenge; some say the tackle could have ended his career.
“That’s a career-ending tackle right there, and of course the thug goes unpunished,” one fan wrote on X (Twitter), while another fan posted, “Biggest robbery of all time… I’m not even kidding.
The officials were criticized by some supporters for their choice. “Same officiating, new season,” one said. One person wrote: “The state of refereeing in the top 2 leagues is is disgusting,” while another said: “La Liga referees are a joke, man.” “It’s already starting,” added a fifth supporter, emphasizing how rapidly the referees had made this kind of mistake, while a sixth fan merely exclaimed, “THIS IS SO BAD.”
Keeping Raphinha on the field undoubtedly made it more difficult for Mallorca to try to make a comeback, even though they were already behind 2-0 and down to nine men by the time he made the tackle.
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