A Spanish columnist has accused Liverpool of playing with ‘severe roughness’ in their 2-1 victory against Atletico Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday night.
The statistics wouldn’t suggest that it had been a particularly feisty encounter – there were only two yellow cards and 21 fouls given – but the refereeing performance of Davide Massa infuriated the natives…and seemingly some of the Spanish press, also.
Liverpool accused of ‘severe roughness’ against Atletico
In his column for Mundo Deportivo reflecting on the match, Walter Zimmermann accused the home side of targeting Lee Kang-in specifically with ‘severe roughness’ and also complained about the ‘apparent leniency’ of the man in the middle.
The writer referenced a few incidents to underline his point, including the yellow card shown to Alexis Mac Allister for catching the South Korea forward on the ankle, and a challenge from Virgil van Dijk which saw the 25-year-old throw himself to the ground theatrically.
The columnist even accused Dominik Szoboszlai of punching the Atletico player in the face shortly after putting in a ‘hard tackle’ on him and bemoaned the lack of action from Massa on the pitch or Marco di Bello on VAR.
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Simeone’s and Atletico’s gamesmanship at Anfield was nauseating
We’ll agree with Zimmermann on one thing – the refereeing performance last night was rather comical – but his complaints about Liverpool being excessively physical seem startling.
If anything, his ire should be directed at Atletico’s players for their pathetic gamesmanship in the first half in particular, with Lee being one of the worst on-field culprits.
Also, Diego Simeone can count himself lucky not have been sanctioned himself for multiple instances of his embarrassing ‘imaginary yellow card’ gesture on the touchline, including one aimed at Alexis Mac Allister when the Reds midfielder had already been booked.
This referee isn't very good
— Ian Doyle (@IanDoyleSport) September 9, 2026
Massa completely missed two blatant fouls on Liverpool players in a 30-second spell midway through the first half and, if he was complicit in anything, it was his inexplicable tolerance of Atletico’s theatrics in response to the slightest of challenges from their opponents.
As for the farcical sight of Alexander Isak having to stay off the pitch for a minute after he momentarily stayed down following a late tackle on him, it’s no wonder that Andoni Iraola wanted a few words with the fourth official.
Anfield witnessed one of the worst displays of refereeing for some time in the first half last night, but it was the home side who had the most cause for complaint rather than the visitors, who thankfully won’t be back here in the league phase of next season’s Champions League as the fixture has now happened for two successive campaigns in a row.
The one yellow card the ref missed was for Simeone waving an imaginary card. Can’t understand why this law is not enforced by refs. It’s almost as irritating as the finger wagging at linesmen, when VAR provides video evidence of offside decisions
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Severe roughness – If a Liverpool player farted within 10 paces of a Madrid player he went down.
They would trip over the white lines.
Given that Simeone is a horrible, whining, cheating c+nt , I’ll take any Spanish crying accusations as a compliment. Means we played them at their own game and won 😃
You must have had blinkers on if you look at most of the tackles we never even touch your players cry babes went down lick they had been kick off the park look at replays you might know about game
Athletico were very sly with their sneaky assaults on Liverpool players. Then when tackled themselves they over- acted and rolled about in a farcical manner.
They are right the referee was useless… he let them get away with unacceptable behaviour .