Barcelona remained at the top of La Liga on Saturday after a hard-fought 2-0 victory at Las Palmas, but the match could have been very different. The hosts claimed a penalty in the later stages of the contest when it was still 1-0, but after a VAR review, there were out of luck.
The flashpoint came in the 80th minute when a shot appeared to strike Eric Garcia on the arm as it was headed towards Wojciech Szczesny’s goal. However, the two Las Palmas players involved in the move where offside, and that was made clear after the VAR check.
Initially, nothing was given on-field by referee Adrian Cordero Vega, but he was asked to review the incident despite offside being one of the cases that the VAR team can rule on their own. Because of this, Barcelona were not pleased, as Eric himself told the media in the aftermath of proceedings in Gran Canaria (via MD).
“I was very clear that it was offside and that it also hit him in the hand. Then he hits me in the hand when I was going to put it on the ground, that’s what the referee tells them.
“After this week it is normal for everything to be reviewed a little… What we don’t understand is why they make him review the play when they already know that it is offside. The play would have ended there.”
Eric also echoed the views of his head coach Hansi Flick that Barcelona were below par against Las Palmas.
“We were imprecise in the first half in the passes, but we adjusted a couple of things at half time. What did Flick tell us? Things about positioning. We regained the lead after a significant disadvantage and it is good to maintain it. We knew it was going to be difficult and we are happy to have picked up three important points.”
