VAR Shambles: Iturralde González slams 'disgraceful' six-minute delay in Barça's disallowed goal
Former La Liga referee left stunned by VAR technology failure during Barcelona's Copa del Rey thrashing at the hands of Atlético Madrid.
Former top-flight referee Eduardo Iturralde González has blasted the VAR officials after a six-minute delay to rule out Marc Cubarsí’s goal during Barcelona’s Copa del Rey humiliation against Atlético Madrid.
Technology breakdown
The controversial incident came during Atleti’s eventual 4-0 hammering of the Catalans, with Iturralde explaining that the Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) completely failed the officials when they needed it most.
“What happened is the technology failed, and it’s not the first time SAOT has gone wrong when there are many players close together,” Iturralde explained on Spanish radio show ‘El Larguero’. The system apparently couldn’t properly model the players’ positions due to their proximity.
According to the ex-referee, officials were forced to draw offside lines manually from the feet of both Ruggeri and Cubarsí, leading to the excruciatingly long delay that left fans and players alike baffled.
”This is reportable”
Iturralde didn’t hold back in his assessment of the situation, calling the six-minute delay “shameful” and suggesting it deserved to be formally reported. He questioned why it took so long to determine if Lewandowski was offside in the build-up.
“Now this is truly reportable. You might need 5-6 minutes to mark the line, but the offside is Lewandowski’s. How long can it take to mark Lewandowski’s line? Someone explain that to me,” he fumed.
The former referee also raised concerns about the accuracy of foot-based offside calls, suggesting that officials should also consider the position of the ball: “Who’s to say Cubarsí wasn’t in line with the ball at that moment?”
Official explanation
The Referees Technical Committee (CTA) quickly released a statement explaining the delay, confirming the SAOT system had indeed failed due to “high density of players” causing problems with the skeleton modeling technology.
After failed attempts to recalibrate, officials were forced to resort to manual offside lines, which explains the extended delay. The committee also noted they couldn’t provide the usual television recreation of the offside due to the system failure.
For Barcelona fans, the technological breakdown was just the start of their woes on a night that saw their Copa del Rey dreams crushed in spectacular fashion.