Atletico Madrid’s 2-1 defeat to Barcelona on Saturday has been overshadowed by a controversial call made by the refereeing team at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano. Minutes into the second half, Gerard Martin was sent off for a challenge on Thiago Almada, before the decision was downgraded to be a yellow card after a VAR review.
Atleti were left furious at the decision, especially considering they themselves had been reduced to 10 men just before half time. They have already submitted a complain to the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), and CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin has now chosen to speak publicly on the matter.
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As per Diario AS, Gil Marin expressed his disappointment at how the situation has been handled by the Spanish Football Federation.
“When we see the images and listen to the audios shared by the Federation, all that remains is to feel ashamed. It is not possible for them to let us listen to their comments, completely contrary to what should be the correct functioning of the VAR, and nothing happens. Referees have the same right to make mistakes as players, coaches and managers, but mistakes in the game are just that, mistakes. Another thing is that a referee from the VAR predisposes the main referee when he is judging an action.”
Gil Marin: It’s not normal that the criteria has changed
Gil Marin believes that VAR had no right to intervene in the initial decision made by on-field referee Mateo Busquets Ferrer, as he did not see the red card to be a clear and obvious error.
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“The field referee must have the responsibility and make decisions interpreting the intention of each one. VAR should only intervene to correct uninterpretable errors, not to decide in place of the main referee. It’s not normal that the criteria has changed and we do not know what to expect. It has happened to us in the last two games. It makes no sense.”
Gil Marin goes after CTA over “inconsistencies”
Gil Marin used a example made by the Referee’s Committee to back up his argument that Martin deserves to see red. The CTA recently noted that a similar challenge by Real Betis’ Valentin Gomez should have led to a dismissal, which is why Atleti cannot comprehend the decision from Saturday.
“And the worst of all is that the CTA itself explains a play a few days ago, assures that it should have been resolved by showing a red card and yesterday in an identical play the referee makes the correct decision and the VAR leads to the error exceeding their functions, those that have been explained to players, coaches and managers and that unfortunately are not fulfilled.”
