Vinícius Júnior only sees yellow at RB Leipzig vs Real Madrid: »If the action had been the other way around, he would be thrown off the pitch. One hundred percent"

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Vinícius Júnior (r.): “Maybe the referee here doesn’t dare to draw the red card.”

Photo:

Jan Woitas/dpa

Players and officials from Bundesliga club RB Leipzig criticized the refereeing performance after their elimination from the Champions League.

Specifically, it was about an alleged assault by Real offensive player Vinícius Júnior, which was punished with a yellow card by the Italian referee Davide Massa.

»It's a clear grab for the neck, the ball was completely somewhere else.

You can give red," said captain Willi Orbán on DAZN about the scene in the 54th minute.

After a duel, Vinícius Júnior pushed him to the ground and, as the pictures suggest, his left hand also touched his neck.

You can watch the scene in the video here:

The fact that the Brazilian was not sent off had concrete consequences: Vinícius Júnior scored a little later (65th) to give Real the lead.

Orbán managed to score an equalizer, but in the end it was not enough for Leipzig to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Other Leipzig residents also struggled with the referee's decision.

National player Benjamin Henrichs: “If the action had been the other way around and one of us attacked a Real player, he would be thrown off the pitch.

One hundred percent."

In the first leg, Leipzig had a goal missed

According to Henrichs, the decision may have something to do with the prominent opponent.

»Maybe the referee here doesn't dare to draw the red card.

It's crazy." Sports director Rouwen Schröder also made it clear.

They were clearly disadvantaged, "he doesn't need to watch a scene like that again," he said of the referee.

For the Leipzig team, the debate is a painful déjà vu: RB had already had great bad luck with the referee in the first leg against the Royals (0-1), and a regular goal by Benjamin Sesko was disallowed.

But the elimination wasn't solely due to the referee's decisions; the RB players also saw it that way.

"We had enough chances to win the game," said Benjamin Henrichs: "Right now it's really brutally disappointing."

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