Almeria Real Madrid

VAR Audio: Video Referee did not show all angles to on-field official during controversial Real Madrid win

Real Madrid completed what should have been another remarkable comeback against Almeria, but will forever be viewed through the prism of refereeing controversy, after unprecedented intervention from the referees helped them on their way.

It was the first time that VAR had ever intervened three times to give decisions in favour of one team in a match, as Los Blancos earned a penalty, an overturned goal in their favour, and Almeria had one disallowed for a foul in the build-up too.

After the match, Almeria midfielder Gonzalo Melero said that they had been ‘robbed’, while Marc Pubill commented that ‘someone didn’t want us to win’. Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti saw no issues with the refereeing, saying he understood their frustration but that all the decisions were correct.

https://twiter.com/rfef/status/1749200843507704287?s=20

The refereeing experts, including the Archivo VAR account, Antonio Mateu Lahoz and Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez all coincide that the decision to disallow Almeria’s goal for a foul by Dion Lopy on Jude Bellingham was correct, but that the other two were not.

Not only was the evidence a long way from conclusive, the video assistant referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez did not provide the on-field referee with sufficient information for their decisions. During the penalty given for Los Blancos as a result of an Antonio Rudiger header, Hernandez did not ask show footage of a potential foul from the German previous to the handball and ask Francisco Hernandez Maeso to rule on that.

Equally, Vinicius Junior’s goal was originally disallowed for handball on the pitch. During the review, the on-field referee did not see all angles of Vinicius’ contact with the ball, and neither did they consider it a foul on the defender in the process.

Sunday’s events have drawn fierce criticism, with Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez saying it would be ‘very difficult for them to win this league’.  Meanwhile Almeria refused to publish a match report, commenting on social media that ‘you all saw what happened’. Meanwhile Real Madrid TV commented after months of applying pressure on referees via hit videos in the lead up to games that ‘it’s what we asked for’.

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Tags Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez Almeria Real Madrid VAR
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