Barcelona were left very unhappy after their damaging 4-0 defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Thursday – not only with the result and manner of their performance, but also with the officiating team.
With the score at 4-0, Barcelona were denied a way back into the match after Pau Cubarsi’s goal was chopped off following an 8-minute VAR check. The Catalans are adamant that it should have stood, and on the back of this, they have submitted an official complaint to the Spanish Football Federation, as confirmed in a statement published on Saturday.
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“FC Barcelona hereby announces that this Saturday 14 February it has sent a formal letter to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), addressed to its President, the President of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), the head of VAR, and the Director of Legal Affairs, in which the club expresses its deep concern over the repeated refereeing decisions it considers damaging to the game and lacking consistent criteria.”
Image via Associated Press/LaPresse / LAP
In the statement, Barcelona have highlighted a number of areas where they are unhappy: Lack of consistency in disciplinary criteria; Contradictory criteria in handball decisions; Accumulation of significant errors; Use and transparency of VAR; Criteria for on-field reviews via TV monitor. The Catalan club want these requests “to be examined with the utmost seriousness and that concrete measures be adopted to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future”.
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RFEF will have their say soon
The issue of referees has been a long-standing one in Spanish football, and in the last 48 hours, it has reared up again. There is always an abundance of pressure on the officials to get things right, but as is usually the case, there is not always consistency from match-to-match.
It remains to be seen whether Barcelona’s requests are answered, but for now, the matter is in the hands of the Federation.
