Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong did not hold back, accusing officials of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) when operating VAR during the Catalans’ 4-0 Copa del Rey semi-final first-leg defeat against Atletico Madrid on Thursday (February 12).
Hansi Flick’s side have a mountain to climb in the second leg after falling to a trouncing at the hands of Atleti in Madrid.
Diego Simeone’s team put in an excellent first-half showing at the Metropolitano, with Eric Garcia’s unfortunate own goal opening the scoring six minutes in.
By the 14th minute, Atletico were 2-0 up thanks to former Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann’s curled strike, which left Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia with no chance.
Advert
But the side from the Spanish capital did not let up and continued to push forward with attacks, which paid dividends in the 33rd minute when January signing Ademola Lookman netted his second strike in two appearances to make it 3-0.
Ex-Manchester City man Julian Alvarez made it 4-0 in first-half stoppage time, ending his 11-game wait for a goal.
In the second half, Barcelona thought they had pulled one back through centre-back Pau Cubarsi, but after a lengthy VAR review — which saw both goalkeepers warm up while they awaited a decision — the goal was disallowed for offside in the build-up.
To add salt to Barca’s wounds, Garcia was sent off for a foul on Alex Baena with five minutes to play.
As expected, Barcelona’s players were not in the best mood during their post-match interviews, with De Jong appearing particularly annoyed at the officials.
Speaking to SportyTV, relayed by AS, the Dutchman focused on Barca’s disallowed goal and claimed that Fermin Lopez was “not offside” in the images shown by VAR.
“I saw an image where you can clearly see he’s not offside,” De Jong said.
“The image they showed on TV didn’t show the exact moment when Fermín kicked the ball. There’s an image of Fermín shooting while the defender is a metre away from Lewandowski.
“So, do you find it very strange? I can’t do anything about it, because… And I think if the image I saw isn’t AI… It’s a scandal because it’s very clear.”
The second leg will take place at Camp Nou on March 3. Before then, Barca will return to La Liga action away against Catalan rivals Girona on February 16.
SPORTbible has contacted the RFEF for comment
Topics: Football, Barcelona, Frenkie De Jong, VAR, Copa Del Rey, Atletico Madrid
Luke Davies