Spanish champion with 10 points ahead of Real Madrid, FC Barcelona can thank the VAR. Without the interventions of the video assistance to the arbitration, the Blaugrana would have finished only in second place in La Liga, behind the Merengues.
The least we can say is that the La Liga season was marked by many controversies related to arbitration. VAR supporters are arguably less numerous in Spain, where video assistance had to intervene 179 times in 2022-23, a new record after the 156 calls in the 2019-20 season.
The decisive VAR in La Liga
The daily As has therefore looked into the corrected decisions and claims that the technology has helped to modify the results of 38 meetings, including some decisive for the race for the title. We learn for example that FC Barcelona, with six favorable decisions, and which is one of the teams least affected by the VAR, would have totaled six points less if the tool had not existed this season.
Conversely, Real Madrid is the Spanish team most penalized by video assistance, with a total of 17 unfavorable decisions out of 25 VAR interventions in its matches. Without the technology, the White House would have taken six more points. No need to take out the calculators. Barça having finished in the lead with 10 lengths ahead of the Merengue, the latter would have won the title without the interventions of the VAR this season!
💥 Así habría quedado LaLiga sin VAR
🏆 ¡El Real Madrid hubiera sido campeón!
👉 Record of interventions of the videoarbitrator in a time frame pic.twitter.com/Xg3y8hIW7T
— Diario AS (@diarioas) June 7, 2023
Suffice to say that this information is making noise on the other side of the Pyrenees. In the midst of José Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former head of referees who received suspicious payments from FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and its supporters will inevitably wonder. Meanwhile, the Blaugrana may believe that the VAR has simply made up for errors often favorable to the people of Madrid.
