Barcelona president Joan Laporta, speaking on behalf of the club, called for justice over last night's El Clasico. He demands a replay if, indeed, a VAR error is found over the ‘phantom goal' controversy.
Real Madrid emerged victorious on Jude Bellingham's stoppage-time winner, virtually securing their 36th La Liga title with six games remaining. But the unfortunate sequence of earlier events left the biggest scar for Barca fans.
On closer inspection (re: angles), Lamine Yamal appeared to have scored in the 28th minute to give Barcelona the go-ahead goal last night. But the score remained 1-1, as the ref issued another corner kick after it pinged off the Madrid goalie and then rolled off the post.
Referees claimed that Yamal's phantom goal did not, in fact, cross the line. La Liga does not use goal-line technology, so they couldn't confirm the goal. The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) unveiled the audio after the match, demonstrating their consistency with the no-goal call.
“Yesterday, there were several debatable incidents but amongst all of them there is one that is crucial and can change the result of the game,” said Laporta.
“I am referring to the ‘phantom goal' by Lamine. As a club we want to be sure about what happened, and it is for that reason that from FCB we will make an immediate request to the Technical Refereeing Committee at the Spanish Football Federation for a comprehensive collection of footage and audio from the incident.
“If once this documentation has been analysed, the club understands that an error was made in the revision of the incident, we will take all available measure to reverse the situation, without discounting, obviously, any necessary legal action.
“If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, we will move ahead and we do not discount requesting that the game be replayed, just as has happened in another game in Europe due to a VAR error.
“Finally, I would like to underline that despite our focus on this incident, we also disagree with various others that occurred during the game, and that could have been reviewed using VAR.”
What do you think — is Barcelona justified in issuing the El Clasico replay? Have your say.
Photo: x/cityzensprop
