Atlético Madrid’s trip to Celtic Park wasn’t fruitful as they had to come from behind twice to settle for a point against Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Antoine Griezmann cancelled out Celtic star Kyogo Furuhashi’s goal in the first half and Álvaro Morata scored equaliser in the second half. Marcos Llorente, who assisted the La Liga side’s second goal, was not pleased with the match officials.
Speaking to Movistar+, relayed by Mundo Deportivo, the 28-year-old analysed his side’s latest draw against Celtic.
Brendan Rodgers’ side had an advantage in the final quarter after Rodrigo De Paul was sent off in the 82nd minute. Apart from this, the referee showed three yellow cards each for Celtic and the Madrid club.
Llorente, who came off the bench in the second half, believes the yellow cards shown to his teammates made the clash against Celtic complicated for Los Rojiblancos.
“We were close, creating chances, playing very well, holding their counters too. In the end, that misfortune of the absence of Rodri (De Paul), which I have not seen, I don’t know if it is clear or not… it hurts us. These situations happen in football, you have to adapt,” he said.
“It’s true that from the outside we felt that some cards were unnecessary. Sometimes the referees are not aware of what a yellow card means to us, you are already with the handbrake on the entire game. They should have a little more tact. A card makes the game very complicated for us, there are coaches who even decide changes.”
The Spain international claims Rodgers’ side dominated until the break but Atlético were able to turn things around in the second half.
Stefan Savić has also joined Llorente to air his frustration against the match official, and hinted his side may walked away from Celtic Park with more than a point if not for De Paul’s red card.
“Every foul for us was yellow and we couldn’t even talk. We have to accept it. The criteria are different for each referee. That second yellow card (for De Paul) changed the game. Nothing, we accept it and we look at the next game,” Savić told Movistar+, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.
Celtic are at the bottom of the table and are trailing second place Atlético by four points and five behind leaders Feyenoord.
