Barça’s President Wants El Clasico Replay If Yamal’s Goal Proves Legal

Summary:

• FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta has announced he may ask the RFEF to replay Sunday’s El Clasico with Real Madrid.
• The request could arise in case Lamine Yamal’s “phantom” goal is deemed legal.
• Yamal’s strike was disallowed by VAR, causing head coach Hernandez to criticize the lack of goal-line technology in LaLiga.

Sunday night’s El Clasico ended with a 3-2 victory for Real Madrid against Barcelona. However, FC Barcelona’s president, Joan Laporta, is discontent with the result.

The president has announced that he will require the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to replay the match provided evidence will show that Lamine Yamal‘s disallowed goal by video assistant referee (VAR) is deemed legal.

Yamal’s strike in the 28th minute was reviewed by VAR for several minutes since it seemed that it had crossed the line before Real Madrid’s keeper Andrey Lunin was able to clear it.

Eventually, the goal was disallowed and VAR awarded Barcelona a corner.

LaLiga Does Not Use Goal-Line Technology

LaLiga continues to be the only top-five European league that does not make use of goal-line technology.

As a result of Sunday night’s result, head coach Xavi Hernandez took the opportunity to criticize this lack of technology, joining the similar discontent expressed by the team’s fans.

LaLiga’s president, Javier Tebas, took it to his X account to share a few reports of previous incidents where the highly-debated technology was shown to be inaccurate, adding “no comment” to his post.

During the statement he made on Monday, Laporta expressed his

dissatisfaction the day after the improper use of a tool such as VAR in one of the most important matches in the global schedule is marking our calendar.

He added that, while he was never a big fan of VAR because of its ability to take away the spontaneity in the game, he was in favor of always using it “to avoid errors that can lead to unfair decisions”.

VAR “Should Help the Competition Be Fairer and Not the Other Way Around”

Laporta added that, while he understands “the difficulty faced by officials”, VAR and other similar tools should be used to “help the competition be fairer and not the other way around”.

He mentioned the “several debatable incidents” that occurred during Sunday’s match and called the “phantom goal” by Lamine a “crucial” one that could “change the result of the game.”

FCB requested the Technical Refereeing Committee at the Spanish Football Federation to provide a

comprehensive collection of footage and audio from the incident.

In case the analysis of the documentation shows that an error has been made while the incident was revised, the club will “take all available measure to reverse the situation” including a replay of the game without discounting any needed legal action.

Laporta used the precedent created by the Belgian Pro League match between Anderlecht and Genk that was decided would be replayed in full due to a VAR error.