In the referee review video released by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) in the early hours of today, the Spanish Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) reviewed previous decisions and confirmed a refereeing error in the build-up to Girona’s second goal in the match between Girona and Barcelona, which ended 1-2.
Officials stated: “Before passing the ball to his teammate who scored, Echeverri stepped on Koundé’s foot with his studs. The VAR checked the full attack and deemed the action open to the referee’s interpretation, so the original decision stood and the goal was validated.”
“Under Law 12, reckless stepping constitutes a foul and should be cautioned. Contesting the ball does not exempt a player from a foul. If a player steps on an opponent with unnecessary force, it must be penalized. For the CTA, the Girona forward impeded Koundé’s defensive action, so a foul and a yellow card should have been awarded. The VAR should have intervened, as this was an obvious, clear and manifest error that should have overturned the decision and ruled the goal out.”
The Technical Committee of Referees has decided to sanction Gálvez Rasconc, the VAR referee for the match, who decided not to advise match referee César Soto Grado to review the incident on the monitor.
