Five cameras, two replays: More controversy from Barcelona vs Real Madrid over key penalty decision | OneFootball

Barcelona were able to maintain their superb record against Real Madrid this season by securing a 4-3 victory at Montjuic yesterday evening.

Barcelona’s win, however, has overshadowed a series of controversial calls and mistakes by the referee and the VAR, institutions which appeared to be helping Real Madrid at every cost.

Indeed, there were multiple instances where the VAR and the referees took the wrong call, including Kylian Mbappe’s penalty, even though the Frenchman was offside.

Perhaps the biggest scandal came when an attempt from Ferran Torres hit Aurelien Tchouameni’s hand inside the box. But despite a recheck, the referee did not award a penalty.

There were more than two cameras

As reported by SPORT, the VAR room had access to at least five camera angles during the review of the Tchouameni handball incident.

However, only two of these were shown to the on-field referee, Hernandez Hernandez: a diagonal view and a shot from behind the goal.

Aurelien Tchouameni incident warranted a clear penalty (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

In the VAR audio released after the match, Martinez Munuera can be heard urging Hernandez Hernandez to review the play, even highlighting the possible disciplinary implications. But Munuera also warned: “There aren’t many more powerful cameras.”

That claim appears misleading, considering the fact that the television broadcast included at least three other angles not shown to the referee.

Keeping that in mind, one would hardly blame Barcelona fans for calling yesterday’s encounter a ‘robbery attempt’ from Real Madrid.

Fortunately, the Catalans were able to win regardless, thanks to their fighting spirit and quality. Barça’s win means Real Madrid have no chance of sealing any major title this season, other than the UEFA Super Cup they won at the start of the campaign.