VAR operating with 22 differing opinions
Cádiz were less than pleased with the three corrections made by Antonio Mateu from the VAR control room and by match official Valentín Pizarro at Reale Arena. Three borderline decisions which were initially given in Cádiz’s favour out on the pitch only to be overruled by Mateu. Key incidents - including a penalty awarded against Cádiz, a penalty not given in their favour and then a player sent off with a direct red card. The club protested in writing with a formal letter from the president but to no avail. Cádiz complained that VAR invariably always goes against them. They recalled an incident during their meeting with Elche, similar to the first penalty decision against Real Sociedad, in which VAR also went against them.
VAR is too inconsistent
Personally, I’m getting a bit fed up with VAR which, if remember rightly, was brought in to get a second opinion on key decisions but since its introduction has become bogged down in reviewing trivial or minor incidents. And what’s worse, not every official interferes like Mateu did yesterday, not everyone sees things in the same way – especially the handball rule which is causing all kinds of bother. There are more VAR referees than there are actual match officials who preside over games out on the pitch - 22 in total. Iturralde believes that now that matches are being staggered, it would be better to reduce that number, for example to six, and have just one, sole decision maker. Instead, what we have is pandemonium which has turned this form of refereeing in tandem into something which gives constantly varying outcomes. It is so fickle it is getting very irritating. It was supposed to make things better but instead, it’s made it worse.
Cádiz protests fobbed off
Then there was the reaction to the complaint, in which once again it we see how easy it is to humiliate those in the lower region of the table. Cádiz’s complaint was met with a blunt reply stating "everything was correct” - very different to the response when others have complained. And Cádiz have seen how their coach was hit with a four-match ban for voicing a reasonable complaint about VAR – quite different to Koeman, who moaned about the penalty in the Clásico and since then, Barça haven’t had a single penalty given against them and Madrid haven’t been awarded any. And then there’s Piqué claiming that 85% of referees secretly support Real Madrid which is why they systematically help them – words which are still being bandied around but have gone unpunished. It seems there is one rule for some and another for everyone else.