The former Spanish international referee and the one responsible for the “VAR” technique in the Spanish Football Federation, Claus Gomez, settled the controversy over Barcelona’s disallowed goal, which was scored by Polish striker Robert Lewandowski against Real Sociedad yesterday in La Liga.
Gomez explained, “It is a natural explanation. There was a possible offside. The technology came and assessed the situation as offside. There is not much that can be said. Technology comes to help football, refereeing, and in this case. It also helped.”
The former international referee added, “Often decisions are criticized out of ignorance. It works with 10 additional cameras, which the viewer and broadcaster of the match do not have, and there are 29 points that are tracked on each player, one of the points is the foot of each football player and whether it covered offside.” Accordingly, he informed the referee and changed the decision taken. “There is nothing new. This does not happen in all first and second division matches.”
Rafinia via Instagram story: pic.twitter.com/cUSKfAmfqP
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A number of Barcelona players were angry about the decision, and Rafinha made a joke about Lewandowski’s shoe number and Iñaki Peña asked the authorities to analyze it and act if it was a mistake. Gomez responded, “In arbitration, we are accustomed to criticism, because it cannot be otherwise. Any sport is subject to Criticism is accepted with respect.
A goal disallowed for Barcelona due to offside.
Watch the accuracy of the VAR. Was the decision correct?#Spanish_League #Sociedad_Barcelona pic.twitter.com/gHzdWAZ8AI
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After a series of 7 victories in all competitions, Barcelona, the Basque leader, returned with its second defeat of the season in the league, after the first against Osasuna 2-4 last September 28.
There was a possibility that the match would have taken a different turn if Lewandowski’s goal had been awarded in the 14th minute, when the situation was scoreless due to offside after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) was invoked.
The image of the analytical lines showed that the Polish player was ahead by the tip of the shoe.
The Spanish newspaper “Marca” reveals that “it is not possible in the pictures themselves to clearly distinguish between the player’s shoes, whether they are Lewandowski’s shoes or Akrad’s shoes, which sparked negative reactions from Barcelona fans on social networks against the shown shot and the referee’s decision.”
The story of Lewandowski’s goal began after he followed up on his Dutch teammate Frenkie de Jong’s shot, which bounced off the body of Moroccan Sociedad defender Naif Akrad, with a shot into the net, but video technology deprived the Polish star of the joy of his 15th goal in the league.
Barcelona’s German coach, Hansi Flick, was certain that “the decision was clearly wrong. It (the arbitration error) was clear, but we have to accept that.”
He continued in a statement to the “Barsa One” platform, “It was not the (main) referee’s mistake. We are human and make mistakes, and today the mistake was big.”