Barcelona file UEFA complaint in wake of Atletico Madrid controversy | OneFootball

Barcelona were not happy about their 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. They had few complaints about the red card shown to  Pau Cubarsi in the first leg, but their issue has been with the decision not to award them a penalty in the second.

Hansi Flick was furious at VAR for not awarding Barcelona a spot-kick after Marc Pubill handled the ball during a goal-kick routine. The Catalans believe the ball had gone live as Atleti goalkeeper Juan Musso had passed it to his teammate, but this was not the view taken by on-field referee Istvan Kovacs nor the video referee team.

As per MD, Barcelona have now filed an official complaint to UEFA. They point to Pubill’s handball being an “obvious infraction” that is not open to interpretation, and therefore should have been picked up by the referee or VAR.

Barcelona have highlighted precedence as part of their complaint, with last season’s Champions League match between Club Brugge and Aston Villa seeing a similar incident but with a different outcome. Tyrone Mings was penalised for doing the same as Pubill doing a goal-kick routine, which led to the Belgians were awarded a spot-kick.

Barcelona also complaint about Atleti non-red card

Barcelona are aware that the result will not change from this complaint, but they simply want the supposed error to be recognised by UEFA, while also gaining access to the conversations that took place between Kovacs and the VAR team at the Spotify Camp Nou. As part of their letter, they have also highlighted the decision not to send Atleti captain Koke Resurreccion off for two bookable offences.

It remains to be seen whether there is anything that comes of Barcelona’s complaint, but for Flick and his squad, there is nothing they can do – aside from mounting a comeback at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano next week.