Barcelona were incredulous for a second time in four days on Monday night against Girona, as they watched Fran Beltran’s winner go without a review from the VAR. It came hot on the heels of the infamous eight-minute review for Pau Cubarsi’s disallowed goal against, albeit a decision that was eventually made correctly. According to an independent report, they do have some reason for complaint.
The group ‘Archivo VAR’, who provide independent evaluations of refereeing decisions concerning Spanish football, have released a report claiming that Barcelona have suffered from a total of 10 errors related to the use of VAR. They say that three of the errors correspond to the application of the ‘semi-automatic offside’, which corresponds to half of the total technology errors in La Liga this season.
That figure is double the two sides that have been damaged most by officiating mistakes relating to VAR, a tie between Real Madrid and Real Sociedad at five. La Real’s ‘errors’ correspond to five points less than they should have.
Five teams level on four VAR errors
Meanwhile there is a group of five teams that have gone through adversity when it comes to VAR. Getafe, Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Espanyol and Alaves have all seen four separate VAR errors, but the most impacted were Los Babazorros. Alaves have six points less as a result of those decisions, simplifying the equation.
These statistics do not take into account all refereeing errors, nor which sides have been benefitted by said calls, hence it is no definitive measure of officiating. It will do little to console the frustrated fan of any of the sides above.
🚨 JUST IN: Julián Álvarez’s environment has not maintained contacts with FC Barcelona recently. There’s nothing going on at the moment. [@gbsans] pic.twitter.com/CRwmzHBLTi
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) February 20, 2026
Barcelona have filed complaint about VAR
Last week Barcelona filed a complaint about the use of VAR, claiming inconsistencies in the use of VAR and the criteria they are using. Hansi Flick also described the officiating in Spain as ‘a mess’ after their defeat to Atletico Madrid. The RFEF have not responded to their complaint thus far.
