UEFA Dismisses Barcelona’s VAR Complaint

Barcelona’s complaint over a “grave lack of VAR intervention” during last week’s 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid has been dismissed by UEFA.

European football’s governing body has declared the club’s protest “inadmissible”.

Hansi Flick’s side were denied a penalty in the 54th minute of the quarter-final first leg when Atletico defender Marc Pubill handled the ball in the visitors’ box.

Pubill, who had received a yellow card earlier in the game, stopped the ball with his hand after goalkeeper Juan Musso had appeared to restart play with a goal-kick.

Barcelona players appealed for a penalty, but referee Istvan Kovacs allowed play to continue, and the Video Assistant Referee, Christian Dingert, did not intervene.

“The club considers that the refereeing did not adhere to the current law, directly influencing how the game progressed and the result,” Barcelona said on Thursday.

They described it as “a major error” and asked for “an investigation to be opened” into the matter.

But on Tuesday, UEFA said: “The UEFA Control Ethics and Disciplinary Body declared the protest to be inadmissible.”

The clubs meet in the second leg on Tuesday night at Atletico’s Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium, with the hosts holding a 2-0 lead on aggregate after securing their first win at the Nou Camp since 2006 last week.