President Joan Laporta will ask the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to replay the match with Real in round 32 of La Liga, if there is convincing evidence that Barca was legally deprived of a goal.

The great battle at the Bernabeu on April 21 caused controversy with a situation where Lamine Yamal’s heel strike was blocked by goalkeeper Andriy Lunin on the goal line in the 28th minute. Because La Liga does not apply Goal-line to determine whether the ball has crossed the goal line or not, VAR checked the situation from many different angles and then confirmed there was no goal for the away team.

In yesterday’s announcement, Laporta expressed disappointment that VAR did not work effectively in the most important match in Barca’s history. He emphasized that he has never supported VAR because this technology will affect the naturalness of football, but hopes that VAR can be applied effectively to avoid errors that can lead to unfair decisions. .

VAR intervened, and the referee did not recognize the goal for Barca because he thought the ball had not crossed the goal line. Screenshots.

VAR intervened, and the referee did not recognize the goal for Barca because he thought the ball had not crossed the goal line. Screenshots.

Barca’s president said that, despite being applied for a long time, VAR continues to create confusion with contradictory criteria in each match and club. Laporta affirmed that Barca always wants to compete, succeed and be followed by millions of fans around the world, but is ready to publicly criticize if the use of VAR negatively affects the team’s results.

After that, Laporta mentioned that Yamal was denied a controversial goal. “As a club, we want to be sure about what happened,” the statement said. “For that reason, Barca will send an immediate request to the RFEF Technical Referee Committee for full footage and audio from the incident. If, after these documents are analyzed, the Club understands that there have been errors in our review of the situation, we will take all available measures without excluding any necessary legal action.”

President Laporta at a press conference at Camp Nou stadium on April 17, 2023. Photo: Reuters.

President Laporta at a press conference at Camp Nou stadium on April 17, 2023. Photo: Reuters.

Barca’s president emphasized that, if there is convincing evidence that Yamal lost a valid goal, the team will request a replay with the precedent of another match in Europe due to VAR mistakes. Laporta added that, except for the possibility of being denied a controversial goal, Barca was also dissatisfied with many other decisions of the referee and VAR did not intervene in these situations.

The match that Laporta mentioned took place in January 2024, when the Anderlecht match against Genk in the Belgian National Championship was announced to be completely replayed due to a video assistant referee (VAR) error. Belgium’s professional football disciplinary council ruled in favor of Genk’s appeal on the grounds of misapplication of competition rules.

Coach Xavi and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen also criticized La Liga for not applying Goal-line technology like other leading leagues, and said that Barca was denied a clear goal. But TV stations Canal + and Being Sports used 3D technology from available angles to check the situation, and the same result came out that the ball did not cross the goal line.

According to El Larguero , this season, La Liga continues to be the only top European league that does not apply Goal-line because President Javier Tebas does not accept to pay 3.2 million USD for this technology. After receiving criticism from Barca fans, Tebas posted on social network X errors when using technology on the field with the message: “No comments”.