Barcelona Confirm Stunning U-Turn to Align With Real Madrid on Major Issue

The bitter rivals now have a common enemy in Spain.

Frenkie de Jong led Barcelona’s rebellion against referee Juan Martínez Munuera (right). | Maria Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates/Getty Images

Barcelona sent a formal letter to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to express their “deep concern” with inconsistent refereeing decisions in Spain, the club confirmed on Saturday.

The document comes after a tight offside ruling denied Pau Cubarsí a goal in the Catalans’ 4–0 defeat to Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals. An eight-minute VAR review, where officials had to manually draw offside lines due to a failure of semi-automated offside technology, ultimately chopped the goal off the scoresheet.

The defending Spanish champions did not specifically mention the incident in their official compliant, but they called out “repeated refereeing decisions” that are “damaging to the game” just two days after the controversial decision.

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Barcelona Outline Five Points of Contention in Formal Complaint

Referee Juan Martínez Munuera (right) was at the center of controversy on Thursday night. | Angel Martinez/Getty Images

The Spanish giants went on to highlight the following key factors they believe need addressing by the RFEF and the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA):

• Lack of consistency in disciplinary criteria
• Contradictory criteria in handball decisions
• Accumulation of significant errors
• Use and transparency of VAR
• Criteria for on-field reviews via TV monitor

Barcelona made a point to provide an explanation for each of their grievances, including a scathing takedown of VAR technology: “The club expresses reasonable doubts regarding the use and proper application of the technology, particularly in millimetre-level decisions that are not accompanied by conclusive technical explanations.”

The club also requested the full publication of all VAR audio recordings as an “essential measure” for transparency and refereeing education.

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Hansi Flick Goes Back on His Previous Defense of Referees

Hansi Flick made a notable U-turn on his refereeing opinions. | Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press/Getty Images

Just one year ago, Hansi Flick vocally supported referees amid Real Madrid’s public crusade against the officiating in Spain. “What [Madrid] are doing with the referees in Spain is unbelievable,” Flick said last February. “I don’t like it. We have to think about the families. We as players and managers have to protect them too. I don’t like to use energy against the referees.

“We have the VAR and we have to trust them ... they are human and it is normal to make mistakes. We have to protect the referees because we can’t play without them.”

Fast forward 12 months later and Flick is singing a very different tune. The 60-year-old called Spanish refereeing “a mess” following Barcelona’s Copa del Rey defeat, adding: “It’s so bad here.”

Flick and Barcelona are now seemingly on the same side as Real Madrid, who have been highlighting refereeing inconsistencies in Spain for years and years. The Catalans even suggested the creation of a “specific disciplinary code” to hold officials accountable in cases of “serious errors or negligence” in their formal complaint, a plight their bitter rivals would likely support.

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