AS referee gives view on Piqué shout for penalty
AS' resident referee Iturralde González gave his view on the play that had Barcelona players screaming for a penalty to get them on level terms at Anoeta.
The game at Anoeta for Barcelona always looked like a potential banana skin for the champions. There's a curse there after all. And when Elustondo fired home in the 12th minute, even more doubts were raised.
No penalty says reviewing ref
As Messi, Suárez and co. chased the equaliser, the home side appeared to be relatively comfortable, at times looking the more dangerous on the break. For that reason, any little decision that could have swung things in the direction of the Catalans was getting plenty of attention as players swarmed the referee, Del Cerro Grande, asking him to review. LaLiga does have VAR after all.
Along with a screaming Luis Suárez for a non-existent deliberate hand ball situation, the biggest shout came from a potential foul on Gerard Piqué in the penalty area. VAR was indeed used to get confirmation and the official pointed not to the spot but to the corner flag as play continued.
Related stories
This was the correct decision says out in-house former referee, Iturralde González. "There was no penalty offence from Elustondo on Piqué. It was a fair challenge for the ball."
He also agreed that the handball demanded by the Uruguayan was not close to being given and that the only mistake made by the on-field referee was that he didn't book Suárez for his protests.