Copa del Rey drama: Officials explain reason for eight-minute VAR chaos
Technology failure halts play
Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees has confirmed that a failure in the semi-automated offside system forced officials to manually draw lines, causing the chaotic eight-minute delay that disallowed Barcelona’s goal against Atletico Madrid.
Hansi Flick’s side were trailing 4-0 in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final when they believed they had finally found a lifeline.
Pau Cubarsi finished cleanly inside the box to seemingly reduce the heavy deficit shortly after the half-time interval.
However, celebration turned to confusion as the video assistant referee intervened to check for a potential infringement involving Robert Lewandowski.
The delay extended to extraordinary lengths, resulting in players passing the ball around to stay warm while the review continued.
It was eventually determined that the Polish striker was marginally offside in the build-up, but the method of that decision has sparked significant debate.
‘Skeleton modelling’ error
The governing body has now revealed that the standard Semi-Automated Offside Technology (SAOT) malfunctioned due to the number of bodies in the penalty area.
A statement from the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) clarified why the usually rapid process ground to a halt inside the Metropolitano Stadium.
“During this analysis, it was detected that the system generated a failure in the player modelling through the skeletons, upon detecting a situation with a high density of players.”
Technical Committee of Referees (CTA)
The system reportedly could not be recalibrated, forcing the VAR team to revert to the manual line-drawing protocol used in previous seasons.
This rare technical glitch meant television audiences were left in the dark without the standard automated replay visualizations.
Compounding misery
The lengthy interruption appeared to stifle any momentum the Catalan giants had gathered for a potential second-half comeback.
Matters worsened for the visitors when Eric Garcia received a red card in the closing stages of the heavy defeat.
The result leaves the La Liga leaders with a mountain to climb in the return leg if they hope to reach the final.