Marcus Rashford sees double Barcelona heartbreak as Raphinha lambasts referee

Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid in a 2-1 quarter-final defeat, with Marcus Rashford given just 20 minutes to make a difference

Raphinha has insisted that Barcelona were "robbed" as his side crashed out of the Champions League - a fixture that Marcus Rashford was widely tipped to start but was handed just 20 minutes. The Catalan club travelled to Atletico Madrid at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Tuesday night for a second leg quarter-final encounter.

Hansi Flick's men were acutely aware of the enormous challenge ahead, given they arrived for the 8pm kick-off needing to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit following goals from Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth at the Camp Nou last week.

Yet Barca were ultimately powerless to overcome their La Liga opponents away from home, finishing the evening 2-1 victors on the night - but 3-2 losers on aggregate. Lamine Yamal wasted no time in offering his side a lifeline by scoring inside four minutes, before Ferran Torres completely wiped out Atleti's 2-0 aggregate advantage 20 minutes later.

It took Ademola Lookman just moments to guarantee that Atletico would progress to the semi-finals of Europe's elite club competition, though, with a scoreless second half confirming Barcelona's elimination. In the aftermath, Raphinha had some fierce criticism for referee Clément Turpin.

He told TNT Sports Brasil: "For me, we were robbed. I don't want to talk about the refereeing, but we played extremely well, they committed I don't know how many fouls, and the referee didn't even pull out a single yellow card against them.

"The refereeing was very bad in all the decisions he made. What I really want to understand is, by what criteria is Barca being refereed? I'd really like to understand the secret behind this fear that haunts these people at the thought of Barca winning.

"Yes, we're all human and we can make a mistake in a match, that's something I can understand, but for it to happen in two consecutive matches? That's not normal. I think the result of this double confrontation isn't fair."

Elsewhere, Manchester United loanee Rashford endured a miserable evening in the fixture. Not only were Barcelona dumped out of the Champions League in what has otherwise been a largely triumphant period for the 28-year-old, but he was also denied a full 90 minutes to make his mark.

This was despite Spanish media tipping Rashford to start the match. The Englishman was given just over 20 minutes to make an impact, coming off the bench as a late replacement for Fermin Lopez.

However, he was ultimately unable to leave his mark as Barcelona crashed out of the Champions League. It comes as Rashford's future in sunny Spain hangs very much in the balance.

While Barcelona hold an option to make his move permanent at the end of the season for around £26million, it appears they are poised to use their limited resources to bring in Alessandro Bastoni from Inter Milan to bolster their backline.

However, with Robert Lewandowski potentially departing the club this summer, the board could choose to retain Rashford as a replacement for their talismanic striker - given he is equally capable of operating through the centre as well as on his preferred left flank.