Barcelona’s disallowed goal in its match with Real Sociedad, on Sunday, in the 13th round of the Spanish Football League, sparked widespread international public controversy because it was not counted due to Polish striker Robert Lewandowski’s toes offside, causing the Blaugrana to lose with a clean goal.
Barcelona suffered its second loss this season after Sociedad succeeded in closing all the openings in front of its goal with a fierce defense, but the Catalan team remained in the lead with 33 points, six points ahead of traditional rival Real Madrid, which has a postponed match against Valencia that was postponed due to floods. .
Discussion in the studio.. Did the VAR monitor the foot of Nayef Akrad or Lewandowski?#Spanish_League #Sociedad_Barcelona pic.twitter.com/Hmhxpq6EJG
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) November 10, 2024
The VAR video technology intervened to prevent Barcelona from advancing in the 13th minute, when Lewandowski took advantage of his Dutch teammate Frenkie de Jong’s shot and followed it into the net. Referee Cuadra Fernandez initially counted it as a goal for Barcelona before the VAR room summoned him and ruled that the goal was invalid due to offside by the tips of the toes. .
Social networking sites were buzzing after the match, and the clip was circulated confirming that the video technology was unfair to Barcelona and that Lewandowski was not offside by referring to the anatomical condition of the Barcelona player’s foot in front of Moroccan defender Nayef Akrad.
Barcelona’s German coach, Hansi Flick, commented on the scene angrily: “The decision was clearly wrong… It (the refereeing error) was clear, but we have to accept that,” adding: “It was not the arena referee’s mistake. We are human and make mistakes, and today the mistake was big.”
The response of the Referees Committee in “La Liga”
For its part, the Referees Committee of the Spanish Football Federation responded, and one of its officials told the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo”: “The technical committee of referees presented its point of view regarding the goal, as it confirmed that the decisions of the video referees were consistent with the offside technique in this game.”
The committee explained, “There is no error in the interpretation, and the VAR referees did not notice any confusion in the identity of the players between Aquird and Lewandowski by the technology, and it was confirmed that the video referees reviewed the footage using 10 additional cameras over those used in visual production to verify that the system was accurate.” The technology used takes into account precise intrusions and tracking of the tip of the shoe.”
She continued, “Hawk-Eye’s system, which works to calculate offside semi-automatically, captures 29 points on the players’ bodies up to 50 times per second to calculate their precise location on the field. Thanks to this technology, the time required to determine the presence of offside or not is reduced.” This usually takes 25 seconds, but sometimes it can be longer.”
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