Portugal defender Pepe has bitterly slammed FIFA 's decision to appoint an Argentine referee in the wake their shock World Cup quarter-final defeat to Morocco.
Pepe's side were beaten 1-0 by the tournament's biggest underdogs on Saturday, as Morocco booked a historic semi-final clash with either England or France and left Cristiano Ronaldo in tears after the full-time. But instead of sulking down the tunnel to wallow in the dressing room like the former Manchester United superstar, Pepe spoke to the media post-match to voice his dissatisfaction towards Argentine official Facundo Tello and FIFA.
"It's unacceptable for an Argentine referee to referee our game," the ex-Real Madrid centre-back fumed to SIC, via Record. "After what happened yesterday, with [Lionel] Messi talking, all of Argentina 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?
"The goalkeeper dropped to the ground. There were only eight minutes of stoppage time. We worked seriously and the referee gave eight minutes [of added time]? We didn't play anything in the second half. The only team that played football was us. We are sad. We had the quality to win the World Cup and we didn't manage to. I can bet that Argentina will be champion.
"A very big waste of time, the referee spoke twice with the goalkeeper to put the ball in play as quickly as possible. We always try to play our game, we were true to who we are, we worked hard. I'm proud of that. We fought until the last minute, but we didn't manage to win. Very sad, feeling of sadness.
"90 minutes that Morocco always wanted to stop our game with little fouls. The referee didn't give a warning, not paying attention and that was the game. We tried to play, put the ball on the ground, the balls they recovered were kicks forward and trying to win the second ball. They were then happy to score the goal. But I am proud of my teammates. We did a lot to be able to win today."
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Pepe's claims of bias towards Argentina come after they edged through to the last four on Friday, having needed penalties to beat the Netherlands. A host of Argentina's players were critical of Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz for his series of bizarre decisions during the encounter, despite Messi and Leandro Paredes both being fortunate to avoid red cards.
In a separate interview following Portugal's surprise defeat, Pepe confessed that he didn't see a hotly-debated incident which saw teammate Bruno Fernandes go down inside Morocco's box towards the end of the first half. Much of his side appealed for a penalty, but the 39-year-old admitted to RTP3, via A Bola: "I didn't see the thing that could have been penalty for Bruno.
"We had the ability to win this World Cup. Then we had the feeling of the arrogance of the arbitration team. Argentina will be champion! There were five Argentine referees! What more can I say? Let's see what happens."
Fernandes echoed Pepe's sentiment, saying: "It's very strange to have a referee who still has his national team in competition and not have a Portuguese. Ours [take charge of] the Champions League, so they have quality and level to be here. [Argentine referees] are not in the Champions League, they are not used to this type of games, they have no progress for this. Clearly it tilted the field."
