When VAR Met the Clutch Moment: The Barca-Atleti Goal That Wasn’t

VAR Review Sparks Controversy

Former Spanish referee Iturralde Gonzalez commented on Barcelona's disallowed goal during the Atletico Madrid match.

Barça's goal by Coparsi against Atletico Madrid in the 52nd minute of the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final.

Referee Juan Martínez Munuera consulted video technology to confirm the goal's validity.

Munuera took about five minutes before ruling the goal out for an apparent Lewandowski offside.

Iturralde Gonzalez told Sport that "this is a huge mess. The goal cannot be offside."

He added that players no longer care about VAR decisions and are warming up.

He argued the issue deserves a complaint and that drawing Lewandowski's offside line should not take five or six minutes.

He concluded by asking, "how long would it take to draw Lewandowski's offside line? Explain that to me."

Punchlines: If offside lines were drawn by a magician, they'd vanish. If suspense were a clock, this review would be a feature-length film.