Barcelona’s second defeat in La Liga this season was not free of controversy.
Hansi Flick’s team were well below their best and were outplayed by Real Sociedad for large parts of their 1-0 away defeat on Sunday. But the Catalan club might be entitled to feel as if things could have gone differently.
Barca had an early goal from Robert Lewandowski disallowed for offside following a VAR check. That shouldn’t be news in 2024 — but the images shown on TV have only fuelled complaints and controversy.
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Real Sociedad upped the intensity after that let-off, with Sheraldo Becker scoring in the 33rd minute and their defence holding on for a fine win.
But the noise around the Lewandowski decision has not gone away in the near 24 hours since that game. Here, we dissect it.
What happened?
In the 13th minute, Lewandowski latched onto a deflected Frenkie de Jong shot to slot the ball past goalkeeper Alex Remiro. Barcelona’s players celebrated but, after a long VAR check, La Liga’s semi-automated technology ruled the Polish striker had been in an offside position in the build-up.
La Liga has used that system since the start of the season. It was intended to end debatable offsides, showing any player’s position when they receive the ball to within millimetres. It uses a network of 12 cameras located under each stadium’s roof to track the ball and up to 29 points on each player’s body.
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What is semi-automated offside technology and how does it work?
The technology was initially tested in competitions such as the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and that year’s Club World Cup and was subsequently deployed in the 2022 World Cup. Last season, it was permanently adopted for the UEFA Champions League and now it’s been adopted in Spain — even though the top-flight doesn’t have the goalline technology used elsewhere as yet.
This was the image the VAR officials were shown, using the technology during the game. It showed Lewandowski’s right boot slightly ahead of home defender Nayef Aguerd’s.
(Movistar Plus)
Here’s another perspective which shows just how tight the situation was:
(Movistar Plus)
But if you saw the sequence on live TV, there appeared to be no sign of offside.
Aguerd’s silver boot seemed to completely cover the yellow one of Lewandowski, which would place the latter in a legal position before he got on the end of the deflected shot. Some images also appear to suggest the offside line might have been drawn from Aguerd’s foot, not Lewandowski’s.
(Movistar Plus)
The VAR crew were able to check both, but eventually decided to trust the technology and inform on-pitch referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez that he should rule the goal out for offside.
How did Flick and the players react?
They weren’t happy.
At half-time, Flick went to Cuadra Fernandez to complain about the situation. In footage recorded by Spanish broadcaster Movistar, you can see the referee explaining his decision to the German.
“What can I do?” Cuadra Fernandez is heard saying. “For you, it’s nothing because it involves your team. But if VAR tells us that it’s offside, why are we going to make it up and say it’s not?”
Flick wasn’t happy about the decision (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
Flick spoke to Spanish TV after the game and reiterated his frustration.
“I think there was a wrong decision in our goal,” he said. “It was clear what I saw. But we want to give no excuses, we did not create as many chances as we normally do.”
He was also asked about the incident in his post-match press conference.
“I only told the referee that it was a goal, it was not offside,” Flick said. “But it was not his fault, we have to accept it. Of course, with a goal it would have been a different match, but tonight it wasn’t our day.”
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Barcelona players were incensed in the stadium’s mixed zone, including goalkeeper Inaki Pena and midfielder Marc Casado. Pena called on the Spanish league to take steps if it’s subsequently determined a mistake was made.
“If there’s such a clear and important error, we hope that La Liga takes some kind of action, because that’s on the technology they use for offsides,” Pena said. “If there has been a mistake, it needs to be proven and then (La Liga) act on it.”
Casado agreed: “La Liga will have to take a closer look at this, because it would be very serious if they disallow a legal goal from us.”
Hours after the game, Barca’s captain on the night, forward Raphinha, reacted to the footage on social media.
He posted an Instagram story with the TV frame used above and a pair of comedically overlong shoes, joking about how big Lewandowski’s feet would have to be for those images to be accurate.
(Raphinha/Instagram)
Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil played down the importance of the incident in his post-match press conference.
“We have to respect every opinion, but after the remarkable performance that we put in, I believe that our win was totally deserved and fair,” he said.
What have La Liga and the Spanish FA said?
La Liga sources — who, like all those cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — told The Athletic the body had nothing to say about the situation, as the competition is not in charge of its referees. Officials are provided to La Liga by the Spanish football federation (RFEF).
When contacted for comment, the RFEF department in charge of officiating directed The Athletic to comments made by Carlos Clos Gomez, its head of video refereeing, at an awards ceremony hosted by sports newspaper Marca on Monday.
“There is not much to add,” he told one of Marca’s reporters. “It was an in-game situation with a potential offside, the technology we have entered to analyse it and it was decided that it was offside.
“Technology has arrived to help the referees. A lot of criticism comes from ignorance sometimes. This system works with 10 extra cameras which are not seen on the TV broadcast. There are 29 tracking points on every player that’s on the pitch — and one of them is the tip of their toes.
“In that Lewandowski situation, there was the usual tracking, the technology assessed it, VAR informed the referee and the latter finally changed his initial decision of giving the goal. That’s the standard process in this situation, nothing new or different happened.”
Will Barca take any action?
Sources at Barcelona confirmed to The Athletic they don’t plan to lodge any formal complaint with La Liga and that they accept the decision, despite being frustrated with Sunday’s result.
But many fans will struggle to accept the Lewandowski decision was the right one — even after Clos Gomez’s explanation.
(Top photo: Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
