What VAR Has Done To Barcelona Is Intolerable – Laporta

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has come out to blast the officiating following his side’s UCL quarter-final exit against Atletico Madrid. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, the performance of the referee and VAR in the second leg was a disgrace, and the Catalan giants will be lodging another formal complaint with UEFA this week.

Laporta added that everyone at FCB is interested in knowing why UEFA’s officials continue to hurt the club with their decisions.

His words, “First, I want to congratulate Atletico Madrid, but this doesn’t change that the refereeing yesterday, both from the official and from the VAR, was a disgrace. It’s intolerable what they have done to us. In the first leg they already didn’t give us a textbook penalty and they sent off a player when it was a yellow, because Giuliano [Simeone] didn’t have the ball under control. The red card hurt us a lot.

Barcelona is demanding explanations as to why that complaint was deemed inadmissible, and Yuste has told me that another complaint will be filed because what happened yesterday is unacceptable. There have been very damaging decisions for the club’s interest and we want what happened to be made clear.

It was a tie where the refereeing decisions hurt us a lot. In the second leg, Eric Garcia wasn’t the last man back, [Jules] Kounde was arriving, The referee initially showed a yellow card, but VAR intervened and overturned it. Ferran [Torres] strike was a goal, the penalty on [Dani] Olmo was blatant, the foul on Fermin was intolerable because his upper lip was completely split open, and then he showed a card to Gavi… The kid was suffering while they were stitching him up, and he didn’t even get a card. It’s unacceptable.”

WOW.

Futbol Club Barcelona is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

Founded in 1899 by a group of Swiss, Catalan, German, and English footballers led by Joan Gamper, the club has become a symbol of Catalan culture and Catalanism, hence the motto “Més que un club” (“More than a club”). Unlike many other football clubs, the supporters own and operate Barcelona. It is the third-most valuable sports team in the world, worth $5.51 billion, and the world’s fourth richest football club in terms of revenue, with an annual turnover of €582.1 million.

The official Barcelona anthem is the “Cant del Barça”, written by Jaume Picas and Josep Maria Espinàs. Barcelona traditionally play in dark shades of blue and garnet stripes, hence nicknamed Blaugrana.

In March 2021, Lionel Messi overtook Xavi’s record of 767 games played for the club, and presently has made 778 official appearances in all competitions, while also holding the record for the most appearances in La Liga matches for Barcelona, with 520.