Barcelona chief threatens El Clásico replay after 'phantom goal' controversy against Real Madrid

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has threatened legal action and could demand a replay after his side were denied a goal against Real Madrid in El Clásico over the weekend.

Lamine Yamal thought he had scored in the 28th minute of Sunday’s 3-2 La Liga defeat for Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu but, after a lengthy VAR check, it was ruled the ball had not cross the line. That’s despite the fact the league does not use goal-line technology, while none of the camera angles used appeared to be directly down the line, making it hard to judge whether the ball had actually crossed the line or not.

In response, Barca chief Laporta has requested footage and audio of the decision-making over the so-called “phantom goal” incident from the Spanish Football Federation and will then consider further action.

He said in a statement on the club’s website: “If, once this documentation has been analysed, the club understands that an error was made in the revision of the incident, we will take all available measures to reverse the situation, without discounting, obviously, any necessary legal action.

“If it is confirmed that it was a legal goal, we will move ahead and we do not discount requesting that the game be replayed, just as has happened in another game in Europe due to a VAR error.”

Laporta was referring to a decision to replay a Belgian Pro League between Anderlecht and Genk because of a VAR error earlier this season. Real Madrid went on to win the match 3-2 with a stoppage-time winner from Jude Bellingham and are now 11 points clear of Barca at the top of the table.

In the meantime, media outlets have been attempting to decipher whether the ball did actually cross the line, and one French TV channel showed images of technology showing the ball had not quite crossed the line during a Monday show, but it remains to be seen whether the RFEF will look further into the incident, and whether they will arrive at the same conclusion. In any case, a replay seems very unlikely, and especially given Real Madrid were not likely to be caught by Barcelona even if they did lose on Sunday.