When the c++ compiler generates very similar assembler code for a reference and pointer, why is using references preferred (and considered safer) compared to pointers?

I did see

• Difference between pointer variable and reference variable in C++ which discusses the differences between them.

EDIT-1:

I was looking at the assembler code generated by g++ for this small program:

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
  int a;
  int &ra = a;
  int *pa = &a;
}