FC Barcelona’s Raphinha Roasts Officials Amid Lewandowski Goal Scandal

FC Barcelona star Raphinha poked fun at Spanish soccer officials on social media, amid a controversy which saw Robert Lewandowski disallowed a first half goal during an eventual 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad in La Liga on Sunday.

The VAR system appeared to have got the call wrong after mistaking a La Real defender’s foot for Lewandowski’s and calling the Pole offside when he himself was on in the 13th minute.

Post-match, head coach Hansi Flick didn’t look for excuses. “We could have played better, like we did in the first few minutes, but we couldn’t maintain the dynamic and we didn’t create enough chances,” he said.

“We connected well, with possession, but then we started to struggle and with that they scored. In the last third, we weren’t making the right decisions.”

“We started well and we scored, but it was wrongly ruled out. I told the referee that it was a bad decision, that it wasn’t Lewandowski’s foot. But we have to accept it,” the German added.

Some of his players were more vocal about the mistake, with goalkeeper Inaki Pena saying: “If there is a possible error in the marking of Lewandowski’s foot, such a clear and serious error, then let the league act because this is what VAR is for.”

“This is what the lines that they use are for and if there was a mistake, let it be proven and investigated and acted on,” Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s stand-in further demanded.

“La Liga will have to review whether it is Lewandowski’s foot or not,” midfielder Marc Casado pointed out.

“It would be serious if they disallowed a goal that was actually legal. I didn’t see it live, but I’ve been told about it. Sooner or later we will know if it was offside.”

Spain’s Technical Referees’ Committee (CTA) has already come out and affirmed its belief that the ruled-out goal wasn’t interpreted incorrectly.

It says that it has reviewed the image with “ten additional cameras to those of the audiovisual production, to verify that the system was correct”, while the technology applied “foresees these millimetric offsides and the tracking of the toe of the boot”, as Mundo Deportivo relays.

Rather than coming out and making his own statements, Raphinha used Instagram to roast Spanish soccer officials over the furore.

Tagging Lewandowski, the Brazilian shared a couple of stills from the incident via his Stories, but then also a pair of legs in jeans boasting a vastly oversized pair of what appear to be Brogue shoes.

As the CTA has already made its stance clear, it appears that jokes might be all Barca and its players are left with.

Still six points ahead of Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga table, with the international break now upon us, the Blaugrana must dust itself off and look towards another away trip to Celta Vigo on November 23 to try and get back to winning ways.