VARcelona and 'blind' referees - not enough

Every Barcelona match since the start of the season has sparked intrigue. Whether it was Ferran Torres scoring in the Balearics in a manner that raised fair-play questions; or Raphinha committing a foul in the same game without being sanctioned; or the late winning goal against Levante in stoppage time; and now this draw at Vallecas, which closed the third round of La Liga with a 1–1 result against Rayo.

Mainly because VAR wasn’t working at the suburban Madrid stadium!? To be precise, it broke down just before kickoff, functioned briefly in the early stages, and then went “off” again late in the first half — which will fuel conspiracy theories suggesting that the Catalans are being favored and gaining an advantage.

The key fact is that referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer and his VAR room colleagues had no communication at the start of the match. Despite that, as protocol requires, the ball had to roll from the center spot on time. Then in the 12th minute, the referee signaled to coaches Inigo Perez and Hansi Flick that the connection to the VAR room had been restored and there were no issues.

But it turned out there were — only partially solved — because Mateo Busquets Ferrer couldn’t view the monitor by the pitch and had to rely on Javier Iglesias Villanueva. Iglesias decided there was no reason to advise his colleague — with whom he had audio contact — to overturn his decision when he pointed to the spot after Lamine Yamal’s clash with Pep Chavarria.

The impression was that there weren’t enough elements for a penalty, and it likely wouldn’t have been given at the other end of the pitch. Still, referees often back each other, and Iturralde Gonzalez, speaking to Marca, quickly declared the call correct:

“For me, it’s a clear penalty. Chavarría lifted his leg and prevented Yamal from continuing his movement,” Gonzalez said.

Yamal converted the penalty, and it seemed Barcelona were heading for a third straight win, but Rayo — even before and especially after that — showed they are emerging as a serious side, returning to European competition after more than two decades. They exploited the pace of Isi Palazón, Alvaro García, and Jorge de Frutos, created chances, fired shots, but couldn’t get past Joan Garcia.

If VAR was the main talking point of the night at Vallecas, then the second was Barcelona’s new goalkeeper. Garcia made five saves — some spectacular — and literally frustrated the home crowd, who had hoped for a comeback after substitute Fran Perez scored from an Isi Palazon assist. Rayo even found a second goal, but it was disallowed for offside.

The third takeaway: the Spanish champions failed to register a single shot on target against Augusto Batalla in the second half. Plenty for Hansi Flick to reflect on over the next two weeks. And plenty of work for La Liga, at the very least to ensure equal conditions for all.

As it stands, we’ll once again be writing and talking about intrigues.

LA LIGA - MATCHDAY 3

Friday

Elche - Levante 2-0 (0-0)

/Rafa Mir 46, Mendoza 51/

Valencia - Getafe 3-0 (1-0)

/Diakhaby 30, Danjuma 54, Duro 90+7/

Saturday

Alaves - Atl. Madrid 1-1 (1-1)

/Vicente 14 pen - Simeone 7/

Oviedo - Sociedad 1-0 (1-0)

/Dendoncker 40/

Girona - Sevilla 0-2 (0-1)

/Gonzalez 30, Romero 55/

Real Madrid - Mallorca 2-1 (2-1)

/Guler 37, Vinicius 38 - Muriqi 18/

Sunday

Celta - Villareal 1-1 (0-0)

/Iglesias 90+4 - Pepe 53/

Betis - Ath.Bilbao 1-2 (0-0)

/Bakambu 90+7 - Bartra 60(og), Paredes 85/

Espanyol - Osasuna 1-0 (0-0)

/Romero 52/

Rayo Vallecano - Barcelona 0-1 (0-1)

/Perez 67 - Yamal 40 pen/

***odds are subject to change***