Barcelona unhappy with RFEF response over VAR standards, push for new review system | Barca Universal

"Barcelona's struggles with refereeing decisions in recent games has become blatantly evident, and it would not be too far-reaching to state that their two defeats have been heavily influenced by poor decisions from officials. While Atletico Madrid were indeed far ahead of Barcelona even in terms of plain football, the scandalous VAR check to disallow Pau Cubarsi's goal not only cancelled a perfectly valid goal but took the steam out of the Catalans' boat."

"Against Girona, once more, the referee failed to rule out the opposition's winner for a clear foul on Jules Kounde, one that the player himself admitted could and should have been ruled out. As reported by Cadena SER now, the Catalans have received a response for the same but remain unhappy and unconvinced by the explanation tendered by the RFEF. It did not explain the offside situation with Cubarsi."

"As the next step, they call for a meeting with the official body because they consider Spanish VAR to be the 'worst in Europe' and propose a system that can take the existing ambiguity out of the picture. The idea the Blaugrana propose is one of 'challenges' where a team can request a VAR review of a particular incident in the game, thereby taking complete control of when and where to intervene away from the referees."

Barcelona suffered two recent defeats that were significantly affected by controversial refereeing and VAR interventions. A VAR check disallowed Pau Cubarsi's goal against Atletico Madrid, nullifying a valid strike and undermining the team's momentum. Against Girona, a clear foul on Jules Kounde that the player acknowledged went unpunished and allowed the opposition's winner to stand. Barcelona filed an official complaint with the RFEF about poor arbitration and inexplicable decisions; the RFEF responded but failed to clarify the Cubarsi offside. Barcelona requests a meeting and proposes a 'challenges' system allowing teams to trigger VAR reviews; implementation is not expected until 2027.

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