How Messi's 'non-goal' went down with Barcelona staff
The club have been pushing for technology in Spain for year
"This cannot happen again," staff said after Valencia gaffe
Iglesias Villanueva’s monumental error at Mestalla has caused great indignation at Barcelona. But not just because of the mistake, but because the Blaugrana have been the pioneers, for a number of years, in asking for technology to be introduced to Spanish football. And at Barça they’re fed up of calling for technology and being the victims of big errors: it happened last season at Real Betis and now again in Valencia.
At the same time, Barça are in agreement with the words of Ernesto Valverde. The coach recognised that the club had been favoured by a decision against Malaga, because the pass before a goal came when the ball was out of play. What the club want, overall, is for justice in decisions.
They also don’t understand why it’s taking so long to apply a system that, at least in terms of goal-line technology, is relatively attainable (100 million euros per stadium) and can be implemented quickly. In this sense there’s agreement between the players and the board, that a modernisation of La Liga is overdue.
Both at half-time and full-time the sentiment among the travelling Barça party could be summed up in two phrases which could be heard throughout the night from various people at the club. “This cannot happen again” and “What happened today proves us right.” There’s the small consolation that this serious error for the second season running makes the implication of VAR unarguable for La Liga. The competition has to be fairer.
