VAR Shocker: Refs admit 10 howlers in La Liga's first half of season
Spanish referee committee owns up to 10 VAR and on-field errors across 51 reviewed incidents, with Atlético Madrid benefiting most from officials' mistakes.
The Spanish refereeing committee has finally come clean about their mistakes, revealing 10 officiating clangers from the first half of the La Liga season after reviewing 51 controversial incidents.
The Numbers Game
Spain’s Committee of Technical Referees (CTA) has been running a groundbreaking new program called ‘Tiempo de Revisión’ (Review Time) this season - a revolutionary bit of transparency where they actually admit when they’ve got things wrong. Proper dog’s dinner, some of these decisions.
After analyzing 51 incidents with proper time, camera angles and rulebook in hand, they’ve owned up to 10 clear errors across Primera División, Segunda División and the Women’s League. These aren’t just any random incidents either - they’ve been carefully selected by a Committee of Advisors including coaches José Luis Oltra, José Ramón Sandoval, José Luis Sánchez Vera, and former player Fernando Morientes.
Winners and Losers
The biggest beneficiary? Atlético Madrid, who’ve had two major decisions wrongly go their way:
- Giuliano’s offside against Alavés that VAR somehow missed (they were checking for handball instead)
- Koke’s throat grab on Rayo goalkeeper Batalla that should’ve been a straight red card
Barcelona also got lucky with a clear error in their favor - a dangerous ball striking Raíllo that should’ve been called a foul for safety reasons before a goal was eventually scored.
On the flip side, Real Madrid can feel hard done by with the infamous Huijsen incident in San Sebastián, where the CTA believes the referee should have only shown a yellow card.
Rayo Vallecano appear to be the most aggrieved club with two decisions going against them - the Batalla incident mentioned above and an Alemao holding incident against Alavés.
VAR Verdicts
The committee also highlighted two matches where VAR incorrectly intervened (Elche-Athletic and Valencia-Villarreal), but fortunately the on-field referee stuck to their guns and made the right call anyway.
For the remaining 38 incidents analyzed in Primera División, the CTA believes either:
- VAR correctly alerted the referee to change a decision
- VAR rightly stayed silent to let the referee’s original call stand
This unprecedented level of transparency from Spanish officials aims to improve understanding of refereeing decisions among players, coaches and fans. Whether it’ll actually improve the standard of officiating is another matter entirely - but at least they’re admitting when they’ve had a proper mare.