Pepe, a defender for Portugal, has come out to sensationally blame the match official for his country’s shocking elimination from the World Cup at the hands of Morocco.
Late in the first half, Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri scored the game’s lone goal with a header. With this accomplishment, Morocco became the first African nation to advance to the round of eight on the international stage.
The Atlas Lions led for the majority of the contest, but Portugal was guilty of missing opportunities and occasionally making poor shots on goal, even though Bruno Fernandes and Goncalo Ramos came close.
Pepe himself also had a chance to score a tying goal in stoppage time, but his header narrowly missed the target.
Despite being reduced to 10 men, Morocco performed admirably to secure the victory and continued their remarkable run of only conceding once in their first five World Cup games. When Portugal was eliminated from the competition following the game, 38-year-old Pepe was approached by the media. Pepe had nothing to lose.
In his post-match comments, the former Real Madrid man did not hold back as he called out referee Facundo Tello for what he termed as his tendency to constantly stop the game.
Morocco, despite going down to 10 men, did excellently hold on to victory as they maintained an impressive record of having only conceded once in five World Cup games so far. After the game, the media caught up with 38-year-old Pepe, who had nothing to lose now that Portugal was out of the competition.
In his post-match comments, the former Real Madrid man did not hold back as he called out referee Facundo Tello for what he termed as his tendency to constantly stop the game.
According to Pepe, the fact that the game had so many stoppages made it difficult for Portugal to find their rhythm.
“I think what the referee did today is unacceptable; this is an Argentina referee and especially after what Messi said yesterday,” Pepe’s sentiments were translated.
“We couldn’t play in the second half because the referee kept stopping the game. There was no playing. There were always stoppages.”
“But what can we do now? We had a team that could win it all but unfortunately it did not happen.”
Considering his age, this is possibly Pepe’s last-ever World Cup.