Sunday night's Real Madrid-Almeria (3-2) match in La Liga will be remembered as one of the most controversial victories in the history of the blancos. At the Bernabéu, Carlo Ancelotti's team received the league tale-ender, a team that is having a season to forget, the worst Almeria in the club's limited history in the Spanish first division and in fact it hadn't taken away the three points from a single match all season.
And yet, and especially since the arrival of Gaizka Garitano on the bench, the Andalusian team has been doing things very well and an example of this was how Barça had to suffer to beat them (3-2 ) at Montjuïc and, more recently, the draw they achieved just a week ago against the current La Liga leader: Girona (0-0). Almeria's obvious improvement was also visible on the turf at the Bernabéu during the first half, the 0-2 score at half-time being deserved. However, with the start of the second half, the VAR official - in the person of Hernández Hernández - began to correct the decisions of the on-field referee Hernández Maeso, all of them favouring the blancos and, consequently, being absolutely crucial to the eventual result, a merengue comeback. For this reason, the publication of the VAR audios - normal procedure - was eagerly awaited and, indeed, they did not disappoint..
VAR 1: Rüdiger's prior foul in the penalty, ignored (1-2)
Almeria, two goals up and without having suffered defensively in the first half, was 45 minutes away from its first victory of the season. However, the sky in Madrid was beginning to cloud over for the Andalusian team in the 54th minute. Specifically, after a cross into the area by Fran García that, after a clear foul by Madrid's Rüdiger on Edgar González, the ball ended up touching the hand of an unbalanced Kaiky, an action which meant a penalty for Real Madrid with Bellingham putting it away for a 1-2 scoreline.
The ball clearly touches the hand of Kaiky, but even more obvious is Rüdiger's foul on Edgar, who leans on his shoulders, preventing the Catalan from jumping or making any kind of defensive response. However, Hernández Hernández, from the VAR room, at no time contemplates the possible infringement of the Real Madrid footballer. In other words, wrongly awarded penalty.
🗣️ AUDIO REVISIÓN VAR
— RFEF (@rfef) January 21, 2024
🗓️ Jornada 21 | Primera División
⚽️ @realmadrid 🆚 @U_D_Almeria | 54'#ArbitrajeRFEF | @CTARFEF pic.twitter.com/pWOr6xMPEU
CONVERSATION VAR-REF
VAR: Fran, I'm going to recommend an on-field review to assess a possible penalty due to hands from the Almeria defender
REF: Okay, I'll watch it.
VAR: Can you put it in superslow so he can see it.
REF: Okay, I'm in front of the screen.
VAR: You have it? I'm going to put it in superslow so you can see, okay?
VAR: I'm going to put on another take with the Inverse Left
VAR: I'll put on High Behind as well so you can see it in context and the separation of the players.
VAR: And now it's your action, okay. You decide.
REF: Perfect. Strike by the Madrid player and it hits the separated arm...
REF: ...occupying a space of the Almeria player.
REF: I'm going to call a penalty with no card. Okay?
VAR: Perfect.
VAR 2: Foul on Bellingham, 1-3 to Almeria is disallowed
The match was already starting to smell like a comeback and had already become controversial because of a, we repeat, wrongly awarded penalty. Be that as it may, without another 10 minutes going by, a further controversy favoured the home team's interests. On this occasion, a significant loss of the ball by Bellingham in the midfield area would result in Almeria's 1-3 in the 62nd minute, but a foul on the English player after Lopy had recovered the ball made the difference on the scoreboard, and it stayed at 1-2, not 1-3.
In this case, the Almeria midfielder, swinging around quickly in front of Bellingham, would hit the face of the Madrid No 5 accidentally with his hand, this being a foul that Hernández Maeso could have blown up but did not consider as such, in live play. However, Hernández Hernández from the VAR, again advised the field referee to correct his decision and helped him invalidate the goal by Sergio Arribas. In this case, however, the practice is for blows to the face of any kind to be penalized with a foul, and therefore the goal was correctly disallowed.
🗣️ AUDIO REVISIÓN VAR
— RFEF (@rfef) January 21, 2024
🗓️ Jornada 21 | Primera División
⚽️ @realmadrid 🆚 @U_D_Almeria | 62'#ArbitrajeRFEF | @CTARFE pic.twitter.com/CmPISP00mT
CONVERSATION VAR-REF
VAR: Come and see it Fran. I recommend an on field review for a possible foul in attack in the play of the goal, okay?
VAR: Go to the clips, table of clips. High Close-up, see at the point of contact, a little bit earlier.
VAR: Yeah it's already impacted, a little bit further back, Fran please.
VAR: Back further, back further, put a loop on now.
VAR: Change it please. You have it Fran.
REF: Hit it
REF: Put it on in dynamic please
VAR: I'll show you the point of contact okay
VAR: If you want I'll put a wide shot on so you can see it ends in a goal from there
VAR: The play continues and it ends up as a goal
VAR: So that you see it's in the same phase of attack
REF: Yes indeed it's the start of the app
REF: Go back to the action
REF: So I'm going to call a foul in favour of Real Madrid and rule out the goal.
REF: And yellow card to the number six of Almeria okay
VAR 3: Vinícius scores with his arm, 2-2 for Real Madrid
Almeria, apart from being harmed by the Canarian VAR official Hernández Hernández from the screen room for the conceded goal, was already mentally out of the game. In this context, and only 5 minutes after the Andalusians' disallowed goal, Vinícius scored with his upper arm from Tchouaméni's cross. Hernández Maeso immediately invalidated the action due to the Brazilian's handball, but again Hernández Hernández intervened to invite the field referee to review "the possible no-handball".
In fact, judging from the actions shown by the Royal Spanish Federation (RFEF), one could think that Vinícius directs the ball to the goal from an impact in the area where the arm and shoulder meet and, therefore, that the goal is legal. However, from the High Behind angle, that is to say, the last of the repetitions shown in the video, it can be seen that the ball touches his arm directly, with Real Madrid's Brazilian player accompanying it with his movement. Then, below, is the video from the point of view that the field referee originally saw, a clarifying image, and the Almeria club asked why it was not shown to the referee. The ball is clearly driven with his upper arm and therefore the goal is wrongly awarded.
🗣️ AUDIO REVISIÓN VAR
— RFEF (@rfef) January 21, 2024
🗓️ Jornada 21 | Primera División
⚽️ @realmadrid 🆚 @U_D_Almeria | 67'#ArbitrajeRFEF | @CTARFEF pic.twitter.com/N0qzo3Y0O2
"Almería" y "Madrid"
— ¿Por que es tendencia RD? (@tendenciaXRD) January 21, 2024
Son tendencia por un gol en el partido entre Real Madrid-Almería
Esta acción ha sido revisada por el VAR y se declaró gol válido para el Real Madrid a pesar de que se ve claro que Vinicius lo hizo con el brazo. pic.twitter.com/O2l0JLfe5W
CONVERSATION VAR-REF
VAR: I recommend you make an on-field review for you to decide on a possible "no handball", give me the Inverse Right, stop at the point of contact.
VAR: Fran I'm going to show it to you okay, it hits him on the right shoulder.
REF: Perfect
VAR: Okay you have it
VAR: Okay roll it, put it on at the point of contact.
VAR: Put it on superslow, it hits him on the shoulder. Decide if it's a possible foul in attack.
REF: For me there's no foul in attack
VAR: I agree with you
VAR: And the ball impacts on his shoulder.
VAR: Give me High Behind. I'll put on High Behind as well, okay one more frame.
VAR: Stop it at the point of contact so that it can be seen please
REF: Perfect, it hits him on the shoulder and it's a valid goal
VAR: Agreed, put on the previous one, that's it
REF: I'm going to call a goal and no foul
🤔 ¿Por qué no se le muestran al árbitro el resto de ángulos que hemos podido ver en TV? https://t.co/tGc8fTusvu
— UD Almería (@U_D_Almeria) January 21, 2024
NO VAR 4: VAR does not contemplate aggression by Vinícius
So the 2-2 had been achieved in the cruellest way possible for Almeria, but there were to be still more controversial actions, in this case missed by the VAR. On this occasion, with the score already 2-2 and Real Madrid on the attack, Vinícius assaulted Pozo in the face and it went unpunished.
According to the footage, Real Madrid's Brazilian forward tries to get behind the defender and escape his marker but he drops his arm, sensing Pozo's face and hitting it full-on. It seems clear that Vinícius makes an unnatural movement with his elbow, not part of the race for the ball, but better described as aggressive conduct. So a red card for Vinícius pardoned. In this case, however, there is no VAR audio because Hernández Hernández did not warn Hernández Maeso of the play, but there is footage to prove it.
Agresión de Vinicius. Aquí no hubo VAR. pic.twitter.com/5l2tv8qrdT
— Bielsaathletic (@Athletickarajo) January 21, 2024
Finally, Real Madrid finished off the match by transforming the 2-2 draw into a win at minute 90+9 by Dani Carvajal. On this occasion, there are no infringements, it is a legal goal and it comes very late in added time which, however, was justified by the two goals, the changes and the three VAR reviews that had occurred during the second half. Despite everything, there's no let-up in the bad news that Almeria once again takes away with it, with yet another defeat.