Barcelona unhappy with RFEF response over VAR standards, push for new review system | OneFootball

Barcelona’s struggles with refereeing decisions in recent games has become blatantly evident, and it would not be too far-reaching to state that their two defeats have been heavily influenced by poor decisions from officials.

While Atletico Madrid were indeed far ahead of Barcelona even in terms of plain football, the scandalous VAR check to disallow Pau Cubarsi’s goal not only cancelled a perfectly valid goal but took the steam out of the Catalans’ boat.

Against Girona, once more, the referee failed to rule out the opposition’s winner for a clear foul on Jules Kounde, one that the player himself admitted could and should have been ruled out.

The response to the complaint

Earlier this week, Barcelona filed an official complaint to the RFEF over the poor arbitration and inexplicable decisions.

As reported by Cadena SER now, the Catalans have received a response for the same but remain unhappy and unconvinced by the explanation tendered by the RFEF. It did not explain the offside situation with Cubarsi.

Cubarsi’s goal was scandalously disallowed. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

As the next step, they call for a meeting with the official body because they consider Spanish VAR to be the ‘worst in Europe’ and propose a system that can take the existing ambiguity out of the picture.

The idea the Blaugrana propose is one of ‘challenges’ where a team can request a VAR review of a particular incident in the game, thereby taking complete control of when and where to intervene away from the referees.

Such a system, they believe, can restore equality on the playing field and cut short decisions that directly affect the team’s position in competitions.

While their idea is legitimately a much-needed step, such a system is not expected to be introduced until 2027 and it remains to be seen what arrangement or middle-ground can be arranged in the interim.