The heavy 0-4 defeat against Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals was not the only reason for discontent at Barcelona. The disallowed goal by Pau Cubarsí for offside sparked a wave of indignation in the Catalan dressing room, with Frenkie de Jong leading the criticism. The controversial incident occurred when referee Juan Martínez Munuera, after a lengthy review of over six minutes by VAR, overseen by Pablo González Fuertes, ruled out the young center-back's goal. The decision was made using manual line drawing, as the semi-automatic offside technology was not available, which increased the backlash. In the mixed zone, Frenkie de Jong did not hide his frustration and questioned the authenticity of the television images used to signal his teammate's offside position. 'I saw the image afterwards, and you can clearly see that there was no offside. In the image they showed on television for the offside, you can't see the contact with the ball, and then you see the image where Fermín shoots, and the defender is a meter behind Lewandowski. I think it's very strange,' said the Dutch midfielder. Clearly irritated by the delay in the decision and the outcome of the VAR analysis, De Jong went even further in his criticism, suggesting that the image could have been manipulated: 'He [Martínez Munuera] can't do much because he's also waiting. He doesn't have the image or the video. But VAR does. The image I saw, if it’s not artificial intelligence, which is now hard to tell… If this is the image, it’s a scandal because it’s very clear,' he added. Discontent is widespread at the Catalan club, which is now considering filing a formal complaint with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) regarding the officiating and the VAR failure in the match.
If the Copa del Rey remains central to this story.
If the Copa del Rey remains central to this story.
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