“Impossible” – Ex-referee sides with Barcelona over penalty incident | OneFootball

Barcelona may have defeated Levante on Saturday, but they were not happy about the penalty given against Alejandro Balde for an alleged handball. The defender was penalised when a shot from Jose Luis Morales struck his harm, with referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez pointing to the penalty spot after checking the VAR monitor.

Barcelona did not agree with the penalty, and post-match, Pedri complained about the supposed inconsistency shown by Hernandez Hernandez, citing his decision not to award a penalty for the Catalans during May’s El Clasico at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. And this opinion was shared by ex-referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz, as per Cadena COPE (via MD).

“He sticks his arm out. His hand is quite detached. This hand is punishable, he can’t pick it up anymore. The last precedent we have of this referee going to the monitor was a handball by Tchouameni in the Clásico. If that moment he decided that it was not a penalty, it is impossible for him to decree a handball in this play.”

Image via Alex Caparros/Getty Images

Barcelona felt aggrieved by penalty decision

Barcelona will feel relieved to have won despite this decision, which has generated a lot of discussion in the last 24 hours – especially considering the obvious comparison with the Tchouameni incident. Hernandez Hernandez was sent to the monitor in both cases, although he ruled that the Balde one was a handball, whereas the one with the Real Madrid star was not.

Ultimately, there is little that can be done about it now, and for Barcelona, it will simply be a case of moving on. They will switch their focus to their next match, which is against Rayo Vallecano at Vallecas next weekend. That will be another stern test for Hansi Flick’s side, who have started their La Liga defence in good fashion.