Barca may request Real replay if VAR error found

FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta on Monday refused to rule out his club demanding a replay of Sunday's defeat away to Real Madrid due to what he considered to be a series of refereeing mistakes.

Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham (L) vies with FC Barcelona's Jules Kounde during the Spanish league (La Liga) football match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona in Madrid, Spain, April 21, 2024. (Photo by Gustavo Valiente/Xinhua)

Laporta's biggest complaint was over Lamine Yamal's 28th minute flick which was scrambled away by Madrid keeper Andriy Lunin.

Madrid won the game 3-2 to move 11 points clear in the title race, but Barca was unhappy about the refereeing display in general and an incident involving Yamal.

Lunin had his entire body over the goal-line as he scooped Yamal's effort away and the ball could have crossed the line. However, Spain's La Liga doesn't use the goal-line technology that other major leagues have and the VAR images were unable to determine clearly whether or not it was a goal.

"We understand the difficulty faced by officials, but it is for that reason that such tools exist, that should help the competition be fairer," said Laporta in his statement.

He said the club wanted to "be sure about what happened" and would "make an immediate request to the Technical Refereeing Committee at the Spanish Football Federation" for "footage and audio from the incident".

Laporta said that after the information was analyzed, if the club believed there was an error, it would "take all available measure to reverse the situation, without discounting, obviously, any necessary legal action", and he didn't rule out "requesting the game be replayed".

There is a precedent in Belgium for a game being replayed due to a VAR error, with December's match between Genk and Anderlecht due to be replayed in May after the VAR failed to spot encroachment in a penalty kick.

Laporta was also unhappy about Real Madrid's 17th-minute penalty after Lucas Vazquez went down under a challenge from Pau Cubarsi, with the forward leaving a leg dangling for a contact. In the second half, Barca was denied what looked a good penalty shout after Antonio Rudiger moved to bodycheck Fermin Lopez as the Barca midfielder looked to dribble past him.

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