Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde has played down suggestions that VAR technology will have an impact during his sides El Clasico clash with Real Madrid.
Reports in the Catalan media said the Blaugrana were concerned with recent VAR calls going in Madrid’s favour, while the two will be play in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday before Saturday’s league clash.
“Those comments were not great,” Valverde said when asked directly about Dani Carvajal’s reaction to Madrid being awarded a second penalty in Sunday’s 2-1 win at Levante.
“I do not want to speak about incidents in other games, but I do wish that (Levante midfielder Cheick) Doukoure undergoes a quick recovery from his injury.
“There is no focus from us about VAR, we know that controversy is always involved with football and that is true regardless of the game.
“We are only concerned about winning the game, I did not know that it would be my 100th at this club and this is a huge game for us regardless of it being a semi-final or a Clasico.
“This is a very open tie, we know that we need to go and score, and we will aim to win but everything is still to be played for.
“We will go out to win the game, we are aware of our defensive situation but we know we must attack.”
