CTA justifies Barcelona’s offside decision vs Atletico Madrid: ‘System error occurred…’ | OneFootball

The controversy surrounding Pau Cubarsi’s disallowed goal against Atletico Madrid has now received an official explanation. 

As per SPORT, the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) addressed the incident during its review session, shedding light on why the VAR decision in the Copa del Rey semi-final first leg took more than seven minutes to reach an outcome.

The moment came early in the second half, when Cubarsi found the net in what initially looked like a crucial goal for Barcelona. 

However, referee Martinez Munuera held the play for a VAR review, triggering a long and confusing delay that left players, coaches and fans waiting for clarity.

What was their defence?

According to the CTA, the delay was not simply due to the complexity of the action but also because of technical problems with the semi-automatic offside technology (SAOT). 

The system failed at the exact moment Robert Lewandowski made contact with the ball, making it impossible for the VAR team to confirm the decision immediately.

Providing a detailed explanation of the situation, CTA spokesperson Marta Frias outlined what happened behind the scenes. 

She clarified that the VAR team followed the standard procedure when the goal was scored. 

“Following protocol, the VAR team analysed the play using the SAOT system. However, a system error occurred due to the tracking of the ball at the exact moment Lewandowski kicked it. 

“This is why the analysis of the play took so long.”

Made matters worse

Frias then explained that the problem was made worse by a communication failure between the system operator and the VAR room. 

She revealed that the referees were not immediately informed about the technical issue, which added several more minutes to the delay. 

She added that this was compounded by “an error by the system provider’s offside operator, who did not open the appropriate communication channel to report this incident to the VOR room when communication was cut off. 

“In other words, the referees in the VOR room did not have the final information confirming the SAOT failure until four minutes and three seconds after the goal. 

“After receiving this information, they initiated the offside line manual to make a decision. 

“And after the aforementioned manual assessment, the CTA determined that the play was correctly refereed as offside. 

“The procedure followed was as stipulated and, ultimately, the decision made by the VOR room was straightforward.”

Once the manual lines were drawn, the goal was ruled out for offside, with the CTA insisting that the final decision itself was correct, even if the process took longer than expected.