Barcelona’s recent struggles with refereeing decisions have become clearly evident, and it would not be far-fetched to say that their two defeats have been heavily influenced by poor officiating.
While Atlético Madrid was indeed superior in football terms, the scandalous VAR review that disallowed Pau Cubarsi’s goal not only cancelled a perfectly valid goal but also knocked the team off their rhythm.
Against Girona, the referee again failed to rule out the opposition’s winner due to a clear foul on Jules Kounde, which the player himself admitted should have been called off.
Earlier this week, Barcelona filed an official complaint to the RFEF over poor refereeing and inexplicable decisions.
According to Cadena SER, the Catalans have received a response but remain unhappy and unconvinced by the explanation provided, which did not clarify the offside situation involving Cubarsi.
As the next step, they are calling for a meeting with the official body because they consider Spanish VAR to be the ‘worst in Europe’ and propose a system that can remove existing ambiguity.
Barcelona’s idea is a ‘challenge’ system where a team can request a VAR review for a particular incident, thereby taking complete control over when and where to intervene instead of leaving it to the referees.
They believe such a system would restore equality on the field and reduce poor decisions that directly affect the team’s position in competitions.
While their idea is a legitimate and much-needed step, such a system is not expected to be introduced before 2027, and it remains to be seen what interim arrangements or compromises might be made.
