Barcelona head coach Xavi has voiced his frustration towards the VAR call that saw his side denied a late winner in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Granada.
Having already clawed their way back from 2-0 down, Barcelona thought they had snatched all three points when Joao Felix tapped home in the 92nd minute, only for VAR to intervene and rule the goal out for offside.
While Felix himself was onside, officials spotted striker Ferran Torres had strayed beyond the last defender and controversially decided his movement had impacted the play enough to rule the goal out.
“First, the referees told me that Ferran touched the ball,” Xavi fumed after the game.
“Who is Ferran interfering with? It is clear that he interferes in the play because it has been ruled out. But the ball passes two metres away from him. But he doesn’t bother anyone. Just as the referee can rule out Felix’s goal, he can also give it. I think Torres doesn’t interfere, whether Ferran jumps or not, the ball goes to the same place.
“[It’s] a shame that the final goal was disallowed because otherwise, we would be talking about a good comeback.”
Xavi went on to argue that he felt Barcelona deserved to win the game, having seen his side record 81% possession and 22 shots on goal.
“We were very good with [Ilkay] Gundogan in the pivot position, and then [Oriol] Romeu was very good,” he said. “We changed the system a little in the second half, with a four-diamond tactic in the midfield, in order to break the opponent down, and I think it went well. We deserved to win.
“We totally dominated the game, we created chances. We deserved more, but we also paid for our mistakes. We can’t go out on the pitch like that. We created plenty of chances to win the match and take the three points.”
The result sees Barcelona drop to third in La Liga’s standings, behind Girona and leaders Real Madrid.
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