It's no secret to anyone that the name of the referee César Soto Grado is by no means synonymous with good fortune for FC Barcelona. In matches where the one from Candeleda has been in charge of officiating and the Blaugrana team has been involved, controversial situations have occurred to the detriment of the Catalan side. The clash between Barça and Rayo Vallecano (1-2), corresponding to the third matchday of LaLiga EA Sports 2024/25, was no exception. There were a series of controversial decisions against the team tactically led by Hansi Flick.
One of the most debatable actions was the goal disallowed to Robert Lewandowski. In this play, it was determined that before the Polish '9' scored his fourth goal of the season with a right-footed shot, there was a foul committed by the French defender Jules Koundé on Pep Chavarría. After the VAR review, it was concluded that the Parisian defender had stepped on his opponent while attempting to regain possession. However, this play gave the impression of not being neither intentional nor clear enough to sanction a foul.
The VAR audio explaining why this action was sanctioned as a foul
Now, the Royal Spanish Football Federation has released the audio of the VAR review of this action in order to clarify why this decision was made. The audio starts with the request from referee Figueroa Vásquez from the VOR room to review the controversy on the VAR monitor, immediately indicating a foul: "I'm going to recommend that you come to the screen because there's a foul, César. So you can see it, at the start of the play".
It's worth noting that this constitutes a misapplication of the VAR Protocol. According to the International Football Association Board, the VAR assistant referee can only "recommend that the referee reviews", they cannot issue such a categorical judgment immediately stating that it is an infringement. This could influence the final decision of the main referee, who is the only one authorized by law to make a decision.
Returning to the audio issue, after the VAR suggestion, Soto Grado agrees to the request and, after reviewing several angles of the play, states that "he steps on the tip of his foot, I'm going to call a foul in favor" and penalizes an infraction that cost FC Barcelona a comeback that would be achieved with a later goal, courtesy of Dani Olmo. This goal, scored in the 82nd minute, marked Olmo's perfect debut with the Blaugrana side after two matchdays without being able to play due to registration issues.