"The system had no doubts." This is how resolute the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) is regarding the play in which Robert Lewandowski managed to score for FC Barcelona at Anoeta, but it was disallowed due to the Polish player being offside.
The moment occurred around the 12th minute, when the Barça forward intercepted a shot from the Dutch player, Frenkie De Jong. The San Sebastian defender, Igor Zubeldia, tried to clear the ball with his head, but it returned to Lewandowski's feet, who put it into the net.
Two minutes of suspense later, Carlos del Cerro Grande, the VAR referee, informed Guillermo Cuadra Fernández, the field referee, that the system had detected Robert Lewandowski in an offside position.
The Technical Committee of Referees warns that if the system had any doubts, it would have been reflected, and the play would have been arbitrated by the field referee who initially allowed the goal for Barcelona. This did not happen because the system, which uses 10 cameras in addition to those provided for the sports broadcast, was able to resolve the action and determine the offside.
FC Barcelona has expressed complaints through their coach, Hansi Flick, and goalkeeper, Iñaki Peña. While the former spoke of "an incorrect decision," the latter was more assertive: "There is a possible error in the marking of Robert's foot. We hope that if there is such a serious error, LaLiga will act. If it was a mistake, let it be proven, investigated, and acted upon."
But the Technical Committee of Referees responds that there is no error, that out of the 29 points that the system tracks from each player 50 times per second, three correspond to the player's foot, and if it couldn't determine it, it would have been reflected as it has happened in some previous matches.
Referee Cuadra Fernández had to explain to the Barça coach at halftime that the decision was made by the video assistant referee. "What can I do? If VAR tells us it's offside, why would we make it up?" he explained to Flick, who insisted it was a legal goal. "It means nothing to you because it's against your team," the referee responded to the German coach's persistence.
Real Sociedad, through their coach Imanol Alguacil, have wanted to maintain "maximum respect" for the opinions of their rivals, but they do not comment on the technology but on the game played on the Anoeta pitch. "I believe that after the great game we've had, well... All opinions must be respected, but I understand that, from minute 1 to the 90 that the match lasted, we were superior and the victory is more than deserved and fair, and I would say it was very short," expressed Alguacil.