Real Outshines Barcelona In 246th El Classico As Koeman Aims Dig At VAR

The Dutchman feels VAR ‘’is only used to make decisions against Barca,’’ after a frustrating defeat to Real Madrid at home

In an entertaining El Classico on Saturday, Spanish La Liga champions, Real Madrid, edged out rivals, FC Barcelona, at the Camp Nou. Federico Valverde put Real ahead in just five minutes into the encounter after a Karim Banzema pass tore the Barcelona defence  apart for him to slot the ball brilliantly into the net. Ansu Fati,17, would make history as the youngest player to score in an El Classico game after gifting Barcelona the equalizer in the 8^th minute from a Jordi Alba cross.

Drama would trail the game in the 60^th minute after Sergio Ramos would fall heavily as Clement Leglet pulled his shirt in the 18-yeard box.

After a lengthy wait from centre referee, Juan Martínez Munuera, for VAR’s decision, he would take a look for himself before pointing to the penalty spot. Ramos would not disappoint as he finished the penalty smartly to hand Real the lead again in the 63^rd minute. Luka Modric who replaced Valverde in the 69^th minute would score the third goal in the 90^th minute to seal a comfortable 3-1 win for the Galacticos in the 246^th El Classico encounter.

However, Barcelona boss, Ronald Koeman aimed a dig at the match officials for awarding Ramos a penalty, a decision the Dutchman did not take lightly and believes it changed the course of the game.

I don’t understand VAR, I think it is only used to make decisions against Barca. You always get shirt tugs like that in the area and I think Ramos makes a foul on Lenglet first. There’s a tug of the shirt, but not enough to make him fall behind as he did. For me it’s not a penalty. We have had five matches and [VAR] has only been used to go against Barca. It’s never gone our way. The decision had a big influence on the final result, because we were playing well up to the penalty

Koeman

Saturday’s result now leaves Barcelona with seven points from five games, while Real go top of the league table with 13 points from six games, six points ahead of Barcelona.

Sources

BBC

ESPN

Featured Image Sources: DNA India

The Straits Times

BBC