After Real Madrid’s contentious victory against Almeria, Barcelona president Joan Laporta called VAR a “disgrace”.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men found themselves trailing 2-0 at the half-time break on Sunday after Largie Ramazani and Edgar Gonzalez stunned the Santiago Bernabeu crowd with two well-taken strikes. Madrid, though, turned the tide in the second half as they stole all three points in stoppage-time thanks to a Dani Carvajal winner. However, a few controversial VAR calls, including a penalty being awarded to Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior’s equaliser being given despite an apparent handball and an Almeria goal being ruled out have ignited a war of words regarding officiating in La Liga. Laporta was the latest to slam the referees after Xavi and Almeira coach Gaizka Garitano voiced their outrage.
WHAT LAPORTA SAID
Speaking at the Mundo Deportivo Grand Gala, Laporta said: “What happened at the Bernabeu was a disgrace. I think that the refereeing collective has to respond to a series of pressures that have occurred throughout the season with the referees. If they do not respond, they leave us very uneasy. Because we understand that there is an abandonment of functions.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Barcelona find themselves eight points behind leaders Girona after a disappointing December where they lost to their crosstown rivals and were held to a 1-1 draw by Valencia at the Mestalla. The recent Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid raised further questions about Xavi’s future at the club, but Laporta has backed the coach and asserted that he remains “optimistic” about finishing the season on a high.
“We feel stronger and more cohesive, but what we want is for there to be sporting rewards and on a day that we could have cut points [i.e. Madrid’s lead over them in the table], due to a refereeing decision, due to a VAR re-refereeing, it has not happened,” he said. “It feels stronger and we have more unity in the dressing room, and we also see that we are recovering the injured players. Marc-Andre [Ter Stegen] will soon be able to rejoin [the squad]. We have players of excellent quality like Robert [Lewandowski] and all those who make up the Barca first team. I’m very optimistic because I think we’ll get our reward and that the other rivals are going to stumble like we stumbled at the beginning of the season. What we are doing is working, fighting day by day, to stay in all the competitions to try and win them.”
Real Madrid’s in-house media took aim at Xavi and brought up Barcelona’s infamous Negreira Case after the manager criticised the VAR decisions that favoured the capital side. They made it a point to remind the former Barcelona player that Xavi’s entire career is under scrutiny as the Catalan club find themselves under investigation by federal prosecutors for allegedly making 33 payments to a company owned by the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees.
WHAT NEXT?
Barcelona will return to action in the Copa del Rey when they face Athletic Club in the quarter-finals on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Real Madrid will make a trip to the Canaries to take on Las Palmas in La Liga on Saturday.
