Barcelona’s defeat to Atletico Madrid was already difficult to accept, but the drama did not stop with the scoreline.
In the final minutes of the match, Eric Garcia was sent off after bringing down Alex Baena as the last defender, adding more frustration to an already painful night.
The incident began with a misplaced back pass from Ferran Torres, which left Baena through on goal.
Garcia reacted by bringing him down, and the referee initially showed a yellow card. However, the situation quickly changed after intervention from the VAR room.
What was discussed?
As is standard procedure, the Spanish Football Federation released the audio of the exchange between the on-field referee and the VAR official.
The conversation revealed exactly how the decision evolved from a caution to a red card.
From the VAR room, Gonzalez Fuertes alerted the referee to a possible denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.
He said, “Juan, I recommend you review this to assess a potential DOGSO [Denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity].”
The on-field official then moved to the monitor and began reviewing the footage, speaking through his thought process.
“Okay, Pablo, I’m in front of the monitor. Please send it to me. Show it to me at normal speed, please. Okay, it’s true that the ball isn’t going very far.
“Stop it at that moment. Okay, Ronald Araujo is very far away. I’m going to change the card, Ronald Araujo is very far away, much further than I expected,” was the referee’s reflection when reviewing the play.
After that review, the yellow card was upgraded to a straight red, as the referee concluded that Baena would have had a clear one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper before Araujo could intervene.
It is said that the referee’s final reasoning was based on two key factors: Baena had a clear path to the ball, and the nearest defender was too far away to prevent the chance.