Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Real Betis
on Sunday saw the visitors awarded a controversial penalty after Isco went down in the penalty area with Gavi in close attendance.The VAR audio of the incident has been issued, with referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernández deciding to stick with his decision despite being asked to review the footage by VAR.
The Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) has now reviewed the incident and has confirmed the decision was incorrent and the penalty should not have been awarded.
“A Betis player attempts to strike the ball and falls, with the referee initially awarding a penalty and then ruling a previous offside. VAR, after reviewing the play, recommends a review, as the offside called does not exist, and interprets the referee’s decision to award the penalty as a clear, obvious, and manifest error,” is the explanation in the CTA’s video.
“The referee, after reviewing the footage in the OFR (Video Assistant Referee), decided to uphold his initial decision. According to the CTA (Technical Committee of Referees), the attacker began his fall after striking the ground with his own foot , and this action caused the Betis player to lose his balance, with no foul by the defender or any other sanctionable action observed.
“Therefore, VAR was correct in recommending the review and the referee should have corrected his initial decision, restarting with a dropped ball after having stopped the game.”
Fortunately for all involved, the decision did not affect the result of the game, as Barcelona went on to score again through Joao Cancelo to wrap up the win.
