Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves has slammed referee Graham Scott for decisions made as Nottingham Forest advanced to the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
Neves claims referee Graham Scott told him 'the contact was not enough' to award Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes a penalty in normal time - before Forest won Wednesday's tie in a penalty shootout.
Wolves felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the second half, when Matheus went down under a challenge from Forest substitute Emmanuel Dennis in the closing stages. But it was not enough for Scott to award a spot-kick and due to the absence of VAR, the referee's decision was final.
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"When I heard the referee say to me that the contact was not enough for him to give a penalty," Neves told BirminghamLive. "Maybe it was not enough for him, but how can a referee decide if the contact is enough or not?
"Maybe if I step on his foot like their player stepped on Matheus, and he'll ask for a foul. He told us as well that if the foul was in the middle of the pitch he would give it to us, but that the criteria in the box is different and the contact was not deemed to be enough.
"Do we need to start breaking legs to have penalties in football? Now the referees would have the sensibility to know if the contact is enough or not.
"I showed him Matheus' boot, it was completely ripped! There's no excuses. He didn't give the penalty because he didn't want to give it, that's it."
There was more controversy after the full-time whistle, when a confrontation between Forest's and Wolves' Cunha sparked a melee between players from both teams.
Talking about that incident, Neves fumed: "At the end of the game everyone was fighting on the pitch and the referee was in the dressing room. That's not normal. He should be outside seeing what is happening and seeing which players need to have a red card. He was inside while everyone was fighting.
"Now I'm here talking about my s*** penalty, and he's going home and he will not talk to anyone. It's too easy for them."
He added: "I'm not sure what is going on, because it feels like they don't want us to win. What happened last week was a shame for English football. What happened here is really bad for English football as well."
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