VAR leaked audio from Real Sociedad 0-1 Barcelona explains non-penalty decision: “He puts his foot first”
La Liga is never without drama, it never has been. Unfortunately, though, the cause of most of the drama in recent years, and this season more than ever have been the referees.
The Negreira case already stirred the pot quite a bit this season, with Barcelona in the limelight, trying to defend charges of paying the referees. The club claim that they paid the vice-president of the referees association to get reports on officials and not bribe them.
If that was not quite enough for one season, the VAR has been called into question multiple times, with Real Madrid in the spotlight this time. A fair few decisions have gone their way, especially the game against Almeria, where they won from 0-2 down.
Following that rather interesting game, a lot of VAR audio clips have been released by journalists from different games.
Most recently, today, Jijantes (h/t SPORT) have released another audio clip from the Real Sociedad vs Barcelona game, where a challenge from Jules Kounde inside the box was not called on Mikel Oyarzabal, which created some controversy.
According to the leaked conversation, the VAR officials told the on-pitch referee, “There is contact before the support. For me it is not a penalty. Oyarzabal puts his foot first. Situation not punishable.”
This game, on matchday 12, was quite chaotic in every sense of the word, anyway. Real Sociedad, at home, dominated Barcelona, attempting six shots on target and 51% possession, while the visitors were reduced to passive members in the game.
Eventually, though, Ronald Araujo came up clutch for Barcelona, pouncing on a spectacular pass from Ilkay Gundogan in the box and heading it home.
While Barcelona won this game, it sort of set the tone for the rest of the season, which have been declining rapidly since.
