Rui Costa hits out at referee following Benfica's loss

The retired midfielder believes that his side were stronger than the Blues at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday and lashed out at the match official for some controversial decisions.Benfica's sporting director Rui Costa did not hide his disappointment with the standard of refereeing in Wednesday's 2-1 Champions League defeat against Chelsea.The Portuguese club disputed the award of the 21st-minute penalty, which gave Chelsea the lead and saw Maxi Pereira earn the first of his two yellow cards for dissent.After the match, which saw Benfica eliminated at the quarter-final stage 3-1 on aggregate, Jorge Jesus said that his side were "damaged" by the referee, and Costa joined the Portuguese coach in criticising the officials' work."We know that in the Champions League some things can be decisive," he told Sky Sport Italia."In both games against Chelsea, things were so clear that I cannot help speaking about the referees, even if it is not my style."The referee wanted to show yellow cards to Benfica's players so badly, that he booked the wrong player."If we want a Champions League which is open to all clubs, this should be reflected on the pitch."Costa went on to praise Benfica's display, saying: "We could have defeated Chelsea."Roberto Di Matteo took a defensive approach, that is all. It looked like we had 11 men and they had 10."