https://www.football-espana.net/202...de-barcelona-as-referees-explain-var-comments Ferran shot, Tchouameni handball not given 🗣️ AUDIO REVISIÓN VAR 🗓️ Jornada 35 | Primera División⚽️ @FCBarcelona_es 🆚 @realmadrid | 80'#ArbitrajeRFEF | @CTARFEF pic.twitter.com/LuaDoWKh1s— RFEF (@rfef) May 11, 2025
Ferran just yesterday had 3 assists (flick header to Eric for 1-2, fed pass to Lamine for 2-2, fed Raphinha for the 4-2). ...and he would've added a hockey assist had Raphinha held his run a bit before feeding Lamine.
Good point. Also had the crucial goal in the CdR. I've been hard on Ferran, but has come good this season.
Crazy stuff over there. They'll attack each other, just for disagreeing with each other. Just odious stuff from a fanbase for a deeply unlikable club. It's made me want Barça to be above all that childish stuff, about (overboard) complaining about officiating, and the like. Its also made me savor the silverware Barça have won ahead of LPB even more.
And you just know Ferran is as happy as anyone associated with Barca that this was a successful season, given that he somehow became one of the main scapegoats for this club. Just like Ancelotti inexplicitly became the main one for Real Madrid.
Watched the first half again after watching some post match tactical analysis. I didn't notice that Madrid tried to avoid Barca's high press during goal kicks by sending Vini and Mbappe all the way near our box. There are no offsides on goal kicks so our defenders couldn't do a high line and had to honor their positions. They did some things differently this time. Valverde constantly dropped into their back line to create a line of 5 with 3 players narrow in front of them. A bit what Inter did by clogging the middle. It left the wings open. They were trying to send 2 players at the same time to try and confuse our high line when they had a chance. Our 3rd goal was funny with Mbappe and Ceballos bumping heads and Pedri picking their pocket. In their 3rd goal Inigo messed up twice turning the ball over initially with a bad pass and when we regained possession, he tried to play again into traffic instead of passing to his right side to the middle to I think was Olmo pretty open. I also noticed Martin had 5 really bad touches . I thought it was only a couple. Pretty bad performance. Here is the video if anyone is interested. It's not that long.
I don't know about scapegoat, but he came for a heavy transfer fee at a young age and was largely unproven at City - so the pressure to perform and justify the price tag has been high, especially while the club's finances were stretched thin. I'm on Team Shark now. I still don't know if he's our future #9 after Lewa moves on. Surely Laporta will splash on a big name if not this summer then after the next WC.
I watched that video earlier today, and it's very good at showing the tactical adjustments. The YT channel is solid overall. The staggered 2 forward runs is probably a thing many teams will be trying to break our high line of defense. Flick needs to look for a solution there, or we'll be torn apart even more next season. And yeah, Iñigo really messed up in gifting them their 3rd goal. He ought to take all the blame for that one. Otherwise a solid match and a really great signing since he wasn't meant to be a starter, but with Araujo and Christensen out most of the season, he stepped up along with Cubarsí. And those 2 CBs have had so much ground to cover the way Flick wants them to play so high. It's remarkable how durable each of them have been.
Still don't understand how the first PK wasn't called back for offside, except for the fact that Hernandez Hernandez was the ref and this is what La Liga is.
They deemed that it wasn't an unintentional deflection on Cubarsi and Mbappe didn't interfere with him mishandling the ball.
This. And, after the nightmare of the Bartomeu era, I, and other Culers were tired of this club squandering piles of cash on letdowns. That is, rather than buy true "difference makers" ONLY. (Note how LPB tend to buy "difference makers," rather than letdowns more often than not. And often on a free.) Eh, his link up play < Lewandowski's link up play. At least, outside the box. Ferran has no "hold up play" in his game, which is helpful when playing the occasional direct play. And Ferran's aerial game < Lewandowski's. For me, he's a good change of pace for Lewandowski, but I dunno if he has the complete array of skills to be the starting #9 for a club like Barça. Maybe he'll get there, and to his credit, he's raised his level tremendously this season.
Yeah, remarkable season for Iñigo. I saw a stat showing our goals against per 90 minutes w/ and w/o him playing and the difference was huge/scary. The CBs jobs were also more difficult with the injury to MAtS. Iñaki and Szczesny just aren't as comfortable playing 20-30 yards in front of their goal, which leaves a bigger gap.
Saying Ferran < the greatest #9 striker of this generation, alongside Suárez isn't such a hot take, but I think what his teammates have come to understand about playing with Ferran is that he is more mobile and selfless than Lewa. Ferran's main talent is off-ball running, which opens space for others. I think Olmo, Pedri, and Fermin have benefited a ton from having Ferran up top. But that's needed adjustments - Ferran isn't the link-up guy, but he's the guy pulling defenders with him in subtle but important ways. Look at the 3-2 goal where Ferran wasn't directly involved, but his run pulls a CB away with him just enough that Raphinha's able to receive Pedri's pass with plenty of space to set up his shot. I'd even claim Ferran is our greatest off-ball running forward since Pedro, who was the GOAT at that - and was more clinical when he did finish off plays.
Yeah, fortunately that was also one of the club's best summers in terms of selling mediocre players for good money. I think the club made about €60-80 million in outgoing transfers and they lost basically nothing (young players that are currently in their prime at clubs like Rennes, Getafe, Alaves, Leeds, or even worse, Spurs).
Without question, Ferran has his strengths, but then, so too does Lewandowski. And yes, Ferran is more mobile, but Lewandowski does things that Ferran can't. Both in attack, and defending set pieces. But overall, looking forward to next season and beyond, this club has NEEDED a Pichichi candidate in order to be where they are. Especially, given the leaky defense, and perhaps a fall off from Raphinha's career best season. At this point in Ferran's career, I squint, and don't see a Pichichi candidate, at least not yet. Hopefully he can get there. And/or, the coaches figure out a way to tighten the defense, even a tiny bit, such that such a potent offense isn't absolutely necessary for this club to succeed.
Going back to this point, I can accept the official's decision. But, as an observer, it raises suspicion that the semi-automated offside lines were never, ever shown for THAT play on ESPN. But for other goals or offside decisions, they made the line viewable on the broadcast. My buddy who is an LPB supporter in Madrid tells me the same thing, that no one has seen the line drawn, even in European broadcasts. At the same time, has anyone heard the VAR recording in that play? I've looked, and have come up empty. So, while I can accept the call, it also erodes confidence that the one suspicious offside call was not made publicly viewable. And while I hate over-the-top complaining about officiating, RFEF and the officials didn't do themselves any favors by not releasing anything to that end.
The offside lines wasn't shown because it wasn't consequential to the play since the ball was deemed (mis)controlled by Cubarsi and not an involuntary deflection. Why would they have to show them ? That would actually just confuse the viewer. You can argue the Cubarsi controlling the ball part, but once that's not deemed a deflection, then Mbappe being offsides or onsides becomes irrelevant. There is nothing controversial in that part.
Indeed, and as mentioned, I'm comfortable with the decision. Here's what you missed in my post: A. Why didnt the ref at least take a look at the monitor, Bur more importantly, B. Has anyone heard the recording of what the VAR told the ref? I've looked, and come up empty. We've heard them celebrate the Fermin handball, but not what the VAR said on the Cubarsi/Mbappe/Szczesny play.
A. Probably because they didn't disagree with the refs decision on the field ? B. Not sure where these things are posted and if they are available to the public. My guess is that they are available to the media and the clubs.
Again, I have to underscore that I had and have no disagreement with the decisions made. I also don't think that officiating determines the outcome of most games, with the exception of the double jeopardy case we discussed last week. That said, on point A, some who are deeper into criticizing refs see the center man go to the monitor on Fermin's handball, but not for the non-handball on Ferran's shot. I believe both calls were correct, but the conspiracy theorists point to that disparity as a talking point. Similarly, on point B, LPB/their supporters have cried like b!tches to get the VAR recordings released, so once they've asked for pandora's box to be opened, then open it.
The ref going to the monitor after the VAR agrees with his on-field decision is simply not part of the whole video-reviewing process.
I mean ... that's their problem for not understanding the logic. For me the reasoning is clean and I thought you were questioning why the ref didn't review the play on Mbappe's goal. And just because the ref didn't go to the monitor doesn't mean they didn't communicate with each other. I think in a play like Ferran's shot where the ref didn't call it a PK, VAR communicates with the ref and considers the call he made on the field before saying he should take a look at the monitor. I've seen many complain about this, but we need to strike a balance of not wasting too much time with the ref going to the monitor. Imagine a match he goes 6-7 times to the monitor. Completely breaks the flow of the game.
Let me just add that a good chunk of fans will never be satisfied no matter how much transparency you give them. They will always fall into conspiracies.
Nah, I'm not questioning the refs logic, I was just expanding upon how some meatball types could see it in a conspiratorial way. By extension, RFEF could have handled it differently, if they were so inclined. No doubt. Agreed. It doesn't help that one club takes their b!tching too far, which impacts their supporters. And in the ESPN universe, it doesn't help that the English-speaking announcers are who they are.