Barcelona thought they had made it 4-1 against Atletico Madrid just minutes into the second half at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, but after a mammoth VAR check, the goal was eventually ruled out.
The first half was rather joyous for Atleti, who raced into a 4-0 lead by the interval. An own goal from Eric Garcia opened the scoring, before strikes from Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez had the home side in dreamland, and arguably, with one foot in the Copa del Rey final.
🚨🚨| GOAL: CUBARSI PULLS ONE BACK FOR BARCELONA!!!
Atletico Madrid 4-1 Barcelonapic.twitter.com/nWz15Q1gtm
— CentreGoals. (@centregoals) February 12, 2026
Barcelona need a response in the second half to give themselves any chance of getting back into the tie, and they thought they had scored the next goal on 52 minutes. Pau Cubarsi finished well after the back broke his way inside the penalty area, which made the scoreline 4-1. However, after a VAR check that lasted eight minutes, it was ruled that he was offside.
Replays were unclear about what the issue was, but pictures received after the decision appeared to show that Cubarsi was marginally offside after the ball broke his way off Barcelona teammate Robert Lewandowski.
The offside call on Cubarsi! Ruggeri’s studs buys Atleti another chance. pic.twitter.com/25aThjz1VH
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) February 12, 2026
Decision could have big bearing on outcome of tie
Had it gone to 4-1 at that moment, Barcelona would have had the wind in their sails, and they would have fancied their chances of reducing the arrears by another goal or two in the remaining minutes. Instead, their momentum was stopped, especially considering that the match was at a standstill for over eight minutes.
The decision is not a good look for Spanish football, and in particular, VAR. Nevertheless, it does appear that the right decision was reached, and unlike any other incident that the technology looks at, offside is a black-and-white call. There is no subjectivity about it, although it was still a ridiculously long wait for the decision.
