Spanish journalist: VAR always finds excuses to rule out Real Madrid goals

Spanish journalist Tomas Guasch discussed Real Madrid's 0-1 defeat to Betis in this round of La Liga and criticized the level of refereeing in the league this season.

In an interview with content creator Ricardo Ramos Niera, Guasch said: "As long as the goal Real Madrid score is not from 40 meters away, they will replay the VAR footage and find an excuse to rule it out. There must be someone whose only task is to watch Real Madrid's goals."

Guasch added: "They replay it again and again, two or three times, until they find that a player was offside. I tell you, if this goal had been scored by another team, they would not rule it out. They keep watching until they find a moment where a player was slightly ahead when the pass was made."

Guasch is one of the few journalists who continue to criticize the Negreira case. He also discussed the controversy over Espi being ruled offside in Real Madrid's match against Real Betis. The attack occurred in the 87th minute, when Espi scored a spectacular volley, but the goal was later ruled invalid.

Espi received a right-wing pass from Vinicius at the time. Referee Hernandez Hernandez initially ruled the goal valid, with Iglesias Villanueva in charge of VAR, but several minutes later the video referee technology overturned the decision.

Guasch continued: "Now there is one person sitting above, along with who knows how many assistants, with three or four screens in front of them... It is impossible to make a mistake. But they say 'he made a decision.' Stop making decisions and stop distorting language in this way by talking about grey areas, contact intensity and excessive force... all of this is a distortion of reality."

The journalist, who contributes to Cadena COPE and writes a column for El Debate, said: "They are acting with bad intentions, and I am completely convinced of that."

He continued: "In front of you is a sporting opponent, but you also have the worst enemy, which is these people, especially those in VAR, right? When I say 'the VAR task force,' I mean it as a fact."

Guasch also discussed Mbappe's missed penalty. At the time, Bartra had entered the penalty area early before the forward took the kick.

While strongly criticizing the standard of refereeing, Guasch said: "They did not allow the penalty to be retaken because they did not want to."

He also said: "The person sitting above already knows what he should do. They invented a rule. They violated international rules, and it makes no sense at all."

Guasch then further explained the disputed incident: "Did Bartra's action have an impact? Yes, because he was the player who rushed forward to stop or interfere with Mbappe's shot. So listen carefully, one month ago you said this was a penalty and it had to be retaken, so why are you interfering this time?"

Guasch concluded: "So, who exactly holds the power to make refereeing decisions? The person responsible for VAR, and that is all. Nothing else."

Guasch previously served as deputy editor-in-chief of AS and also wrote columns for Marca.