Barcelona may ask to REPLAY El Clasico – if it can be proved Lamine Yamal’s phantom goal WAS over the line – reveals chief Joan Laporta
- Lamine Yamal’s shot appeared to have crossed the line but it was not given
- Xavi was left fuming by the decision and blasted the referee’s performance
- VAR got Coventry’s chalked off winner right – those who wanted technology have got what they want! Listen to the It’s All Kicking Off podcast
Joan Laporta has poured further fuel on the fire caused by Lamine Yamal’s controversial phantom goal by revealing the Catalan side could issue for a replayed tie.
Xavi’s side fell to a 3-2 defeat on the road to Real Madrid on Sunday night, with Jude Bellingham‘s injury time winner leaving Los Blancos 11 points clear at the top and firmly in control of the title race.
Andreas Christensen and Fermin Lopez struck either side of Vinicius Junior‘s penalty as Barca twice took the lead, before Lucas Vazquez’s equaliser and Bellingham’s eventual third goal sealed the result for the hosts.
However, Barcelona were left incensed by a goal that they felt should have been awarded after Lamine Yamal’s strike in the first half appeared to cross the line.
Andriy Lunin quickly bundled the ball clear at his near post, but replays have shown that perhaps the goal might have been legal, despite the referee not awarding it, and as such Laporta has raised the possibility of a potential replay.
Joan Laporta has raised the possibility of El Clasico being replayed after the controversial ‘ghost goal’ in the first half
Lamine Yamal’s strike looked to have crossed the line but the goal was not given
However, a new angle of the incident emerged where Yamal’s (bottom left) effort looked to have crossed the line, with Real keeper Lunin shoveling the ball away from behind the line
‘We ask the RFEF to provide us with all the images & audios of the play [Barça’s cancelled goal],’ the club president said. ‘If it was a legal goal, we do not rule out asking to replay the match.’
While the referee waved play on, there was a VAR check to ascertain whether the ball was over the line or not, although a conclusive conclusion could not be reached to overturn the referee’s call.
LaLiga’s stance on goal-line technology is different to those like the Premier League, who have the technology to sort such incidents in seconds with officials receiving a signal on their watch telling them whether the ball has crossed the line or not.
Spanish outlet El Larguero reported that La Liga president Javier Tebas does not want to pay the £2.6 million the technology costs.
However, a new angle of the supposed goal was shared in a clip on Reddit, where it appears as if the ball had crossed the goal-line.
In the video, Real’s stopper Lunin can be seen inside his goal and desperately attempting to shovel the ball away, yet the goal wasn’t given.
This meant Yamal was unable to add the gong of youngest ever El Clasico goalscorer to his burgeoning list of achievements.
Barcelona coach Xavi raged at more perceived refereeing injustice after he saw his team’s slim hopes of winning the Spanish title disappear.
Xavi labelled the refereeing decisions against his team as a ‘disgrace’ and claimed Barcelona will ‘not remain silent’
‘I’m not going to say anything about the referee because I will be banned if I do but it was there for all to see,’ he said. ‘We were the better team tonight and we deserved to win.’
The furious Blaugrana boss added: ‘The referee did not get a single decision right.
‘It’s a disgrace and we should not remain silent. I hoped the referee would either go unnoticed or get his decisions right but it was neither of those two things.’
Fans couldn’t believe that Yamal’s strike wasn’t given as a goal but Tebas quickly defended his league’s lack of technology.
The LaLiga president posted a series of articles about moments where goal-line technology has made mistakes, including an infamous phantom goal from Sheffield United‘s Premier League clash with Aston Villa in 2020.
Tebas wrote ‘no comment’ alongside the images on X, in a clear response the the criticism.
In a series of photos, Tebas shared incidents of where goal-line technology had gone wrong
Even Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen had his say despite being down the other end of the pitch when the incident first happened.
He said: ‘It’s a disgrace that they can’t find an angle to check the goal. I have no words to describe that.’
