Barcelona boss Quique Setien believes that officials in La Liga are not using the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system correctly.
It follows on directly from Real Madrid’s victory at Real Sociedad being marred by controversial officiating decisions surrounding key incidents in the clash.
Los Blancos opened the scoring in Anoeta from a penalty decision before an equaliser for La Real was controversially ruled out by handball and Karim Benzema’s strike – Madrid’s second of the game – appearing to have been controlled initially by a handball.
It was a result which took Madrid to the top of La Liga for the first time since the resumption of Spanish football as they leapfrogged Setien’s Blaugrana – who were to a scoreless draw at Sevilla on Friday – on goal difference.
“There are things that we cannot control and that do not depend on us. Everybody saw what happened in Anoeta and everyone will draw their own conclusions,” Setien told reporters, as cited by ESPN.
“It’s understandable that we think why there are some actions that are reviewed, the referee himself reviews them and they don’t do the same in other plays.
“They do it on some matches and in some others (they don’t). So you could really think that (VAR) is not being used correctly.”
Setien did admit that controversies will always play a key role in football even with VAR technology being available to help officials come to the correct conclusions.
“We’ve been here for many years and this doesn’t change. It’s always the same, the controversy will always be there,” he added.
“VAR is a tool that can make us better, but we have to use it to have a clearer view of reality.”
