Barcelona president Joan Laporta says he will not rule out taking legal action over Lamine Yamal's ‘phantom goal' against Real Madrid.
Teenager Yamal thought he had put Barcelona 3-2 ahead at the Bernabeu but Real keeper Andriy Lunin, who was behind the goalline, clawed the ball away. The visitors were adamant the ball had crossed the line but the referee ruled it had not and with no goalline technology in La Liga, the video assistant referee (VAR) could not prove it.
Barca went on to lose the match 3-2 after Jude Bellingham scored the winner in the first minute of added time. Laporta says the club will request the audio and video footage from the Technical Refereeing Committee at the Spanish FA to determine whether the goal should have stood.
“If, once this documentation has been analysed, the club understands that an error was made in the revision of the incident, we will take all available measures to reverse the situation, without discounting, obviously, any necessary legal action,” said Laporta.
He added that if their analysis confirms it was a legal goal, the club “do not discount requesting that the game to be replayed, just as has happened in another game in Europe due to a VAR error”.
A Belgian Pro League match from earlier this season between Anderlecht and Genk was ordered to be replayed in full because of a VAR mistake. However, the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned that decision.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp called for his side's Premier League match against Tottenham to be replayed after Luis Diaz's goal was wrongly disallowed earlier this season.
“We understand the difficulty faced by officials, but it is for that reason that such tools exist (like VAR) to help the competition be fairer and not the other way around,” said Laporta.
Barcelona boss Xavi said it is “a disgrace” that goalline technology is in use in other countries, like the Premier League in England, but is not available in La Liga with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen saying it is “shameful for football”.
Andres Christensen had scored the opener for Barcelona but a Vinicius Jr penalty levelled before half-time. Fermin Lopez made it 2-1 to Barca before Lucas Vazquez equalised.
Real Madrid are top of La Liga, 11 points clear of Barcelona in second.
