Barcelona Considers Official Complaint to Spanish Federation Over Atlético Madrid Match Officiating

The performance of referee Martinez Munuera, coupled with a malfunction of the semi-automated offside system during Barcelona's match against Atlético Madrid, has caused deep dissatisfaction within the Catalan club, prompting them to consider filing an official complaint with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

Coach Hansi Flick strongly criticized the refereeing, noting that the first incident should have resulted in a yellow card for Giuliano Simeone for a foul on Alejandro Balde. Furthermore, there was growing surprise that the Argentine forward was not shown a direct red card after another harsh foul in the second half.

Barcelona's management, coaching staff, and players were particularly perplexed by the seven-minute stoppage in play to review a goal scored by Pau Cubarsí in the 52nd minute, which was subsequently disallowed for offside.

Flick did not receive any explanation on the touchline during the stoppage. Moreover, the Catalan club's frustration significantly increased due to the semi-automated offside system's inability to generate digital images in a common football scenario where players are clustered within the penalty area.

Explanations provided by the Referees' Technical Committee were not accepted by Barcelona. A statement from the committee read: "In the context of the aforementioned analysis, a malfunction was detected in the skeletal player modeling system when a high density of players was observed. After attempting to recalibrate the modeling system and confirming its impossibility, the VAR team followed the specified procedures and manually drew the offside lines to make the final and correct decision."

Consequently, Barcelona will assess the situation today, Friday, and it is almost certain that the club will send an official complaint to the Royal Spanish Football Federation, according to Spanish media reports.