Youssef En-Nesyri scored the lone goal that Morocco needed to defeat Portugal and advance to the World Cup semi-finals. As a result, Morocco became the first African team to compete in the World Cup semi-finals.

Bruno Fernandes and Pepe (white shirt) in the match against Morocco in the quarterfinals of the World Cup 2022

Bruno Fernandes and Pepe expressed their displeasure with the way Argentinian referee Facundo Tello held the whistle during the decisive match. Even the two stars publicly “accused FIFA of arranging” the Argentinian referee team to run the match in order to deliberately eliminate Portugal.

According to The Sun, the two Portuguese stars’ statements will almost certainly bring them to FIFA’s attention, and there will be an investigation, with both potentially being barred from playing international matches for a long time.

Earlier, after the match on December 10, Pepe expressed his displeasure with referee Tello’s handling in an interview.

The Porto star stated that he did not agree with the Argentinian referee being assigned to begin this match after Lionel Messi and his teammates advanced to the semi-finals.

“It’s unconscionable that an Argentine referee took our match today after what happened yesterday, with Messi complaining.”

“They were able to give Argentina the title based on what I saw today,” Pepe said.

Pepe reacts to the referee

Bruno Fernandes soon after continued to “”I don’t know if they’ll give the trophy to Argentina or not,” Pepe said, igniting his statement.

I don’t care; I’ll say what I think and then delete them.

It’s strange for a referee to kick us out of the league while we’re still in it.

They were clearly against us.”

FIFA has yet to issue an official statement in response to the Portuguese player’s accusations.

Ronaldo’s Portugal were eliminated from the tournament after a 0-1 loss to Morocco.

The African representative will face France in the semi-finals on December 15 at 2:00 p.m.