Barcelona secured an exciting 2–1 victory away at Atlético Madrid on Saturday evening, in Round 30 of the Spanish La Liga.
Barcelona, the league leaders, extended their lead over closest challengers Real Madrid to 7 points, following Los Blancos’ defeat to Real Mallorca. Meanwhile, Atlético Madrid remained in fourth place with 57 points.
The match was officiated by referee Busquets Ferrer, who received a surprising rating from the “Archivo VAR” website, which specializes in refereeing decisions.
“Archivo VAR” gave Busquets Ferrer a rating of 2 out of 10, stating that he handled the Atlético vs Barcelona match poorly.
VAR steps in to correct on-field referee errors
“Archivo VAR” noted that Busquets Ferrer is not currently in his best form, and this was once again confirmed by a series of mistakes that forced the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to intervene and correct them.
Ferrer showed eight yellow cards and ignored some clear bookings, appearing inconsistent and lacking the required level of control.
The match featured two controversial incidents in which VAR had to intervene to overturn Ferrer’s initial decisions.
The first incident occurred in the first half, when Nicolás González—already on a yellow card—fouled Lamine Yamal, denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity. This situation warranted a direct red card rather than a second yellow.
The second incident took place in the second half, when VAR was once again required to intervene. Ferrer had initially shown a straight red card to Gerard Martín in a decision that the Referees’ Technical Committee classified as only deserving a yellow card.
Martín reached the ball first and cleared it in a controlled manner, before making contact with Thiago Almada’s ankle, who had entered his movement path, leading to the cancellation of the Barcelona player’s sending-off.
