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Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona, has criticized the arbitration in the Clásico, which Real Madrid won 3-2, in a video message. “If it turns out that Lamine Yamal’s disallowed goal was valid, we do not rule out asking for the match to be replayed, as has already happened in Europe due to a VAR error.” Is Laporta referring to Racing Genk, which found out early and in the first instance that a match against Anderlecht had to be replayed?
Racing Genk’s request to have the match against Anderlecht on December 23, 2023 replayed and the initial decision that the match actually had to be replayed (overturned by the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sport), has traveled around Europe and the world in recent months. The Spanish press also paid attention to the implementation.
It is therefore not inconceivable that Joan Laporta refers to Genk’s demarche when he says the day after the 3-2 loss to Real Madrid: “If it is confirmed that Lamine Yamal’s disallowed goal was valid, we will continue and close It does not matter that we ask for the match to be replayed, as has already happened in Europe due to a VAR error.”
Laporta talks about a deviation from Lamine Yamal at 1-1 on a corner kick after 28 minutes. Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin was behind the line when he converted the attempt. The VAR studied the phase and decided that it was not a goal, but at FC Barcelona they doubt that. La Liga does not have goal-line technology and the images shown on TV were not clear.
Yet the case is not comparable to the Anderlecht-Genk in question, because at that time Genk argued that the VAR had made a mistake against the regulations, while in the Clásico it is about an interpretation: has the ball crossed the line or not?
“We understand that the referee’s job is not easy, but tools such as VAR are there to have a fairer competition and not the other way around. There were several questionable decisions (referring to the penalty for Real and no penalty for Barcelona during a phase with Rüdiger and Fermín, ed.), but one decision is crucial. I’m talking about Lamine’s so-called ghost goal. As a club we want to have a definitive answer about this and so we will request all images and audio fragments of that phase from the referee committee and the Spanish Football Association. If, after reviewing this information, it appears that an error has been made, we will take appropriate action to correct it.”
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