Stats reveal how many VAR decisions go against Real Madrid and Barcelona in LaLiga

It’s a scenario we’ve seen time and time again in recent years - the ball enters. Cue celebrations from players and the fans only for the referee to dampen their spirits by calling for a VAR review Minutes of suspense follow until... the ref draws the monitor hand sign to signal that goal has been disallowed.

LaLiga has been experiencing these situations for seven seasons, matchday after matchday, since VAR arrived in the national league in the 2018/19 campaign.

A scenario that Real Madrid has experienced a total of 32 times so far. Real Madrid are the team that has had the most goals disallowed by VAR in the Spanish top flight - far exceeding the figure for Barcelona (13) and far behind those next on the list, Atlético, Celta and Sevilla, with 17 goals disallowed respectively.

But that’s not the most curious fact. Real Madrid is also the only team in history that has had three goals overturned by VAR in a single game - twice. The first, against Elche in 2022. The second, last Sunday in the Week 20 against Las Palmas.

Against Las Palmas, referee Alejandro Quintero ruled out goals by Mbappé, Bellingham and Valverde. All of them for offside.

The same thing happened on 19 October 2022 at the Martínez Valero, when ref Jesús Gil Manzano chalked off goals from Alaba and two by Benzema against Elche on matchday 10.

Barcelona, the least affected by VAR decisions

Since 2018/19, Barcelona have had 13 goals disallowed by VAR. Although the real difference compared to Real Madrid appears when we look at the number of goals each team scores to have one disallowed.

Madrid scores 15.2 goals for every goal disallowed (485 goals since the 2018/2019 campaign and 32 goals disallowed), while the statistics indicate that Barça has to score 40.7 goals for one to be chalked off (529 of 13 disallowed).

The Catalans are 10 goals ahead of second place, Villarreal, who had to score 33.06 goals for one to be disallowed (529 of 16 disallowed). Atletico Madrid is third, with 23.1 goals for every goal that does not go on the scoreboard (17 goals disallowed for 393 scored).

For better or worse, since 2018, VAR continues to generate controversy in the world of football due to the criteria it uses to intervene. Because what is “cancelled” by technology is not always “correctly cancelled” for everyone.

There are still many grey areas to be resolved. There is only one certainty: Real Madrid is the team in LaLiga that has had the most goals disallowed by technology.

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