What Spanish ref said to Hansi Flick after shock VAR 'mistake' cost Robert Lewandowski and Barcelona

A Spanish referee's comment to Hansi Flick has been revealed after the Barcelona boss fumed over a controversial offside in the loss to Real Sociedad.

The Blaugrana suffered a 1-0 defeat to La Real on Sunday night courtesy of a strike from Sheraldo Becker in the first half. It proved to be the only goal of the game but Robert Lewandowski did have the ball in the net 13 minutes in, only for it to get disallowed for offside due to a VAR review.

VAR adjudged Lewandowski's foot to have just strayed offside in an unbelievably tight call. La Liga uses semi-automated offside technology but upon seeing replays, many Barcelona fans were convinced that defender Nayef Aguerd's foot was behind him and therefore Lewandowski was offside.

Flick said post-match that "there was no offside" and that it was not Lewandowski's foot. In the break for half-time as teams were getting ready to exit the tunnel for the second half, Flick was in conversation with the official Cuadra Fernandez.

Discussions were undoubtedly over the controversial call and later Spanish broadcaster Movistar revealed details of what was said by the referee, who vehemently defended the decision and stressed there was no foul play.

He said: “You say it’s not offside. What can I do? For you, it’s nothing because it’s against your team. If the VAR says, it’s offside. Why would we make it up? Listen to me, why would we make up an offside."

Image: Getty

Barcelona remain top of La Liga going into the next international break, with a five point lead ahead of Real Madrid - who have played a game less.

Although he had the exchange with the referee, Flick made sure not to use the offside goal decision as an excuse for his team not performing well enough.

"The responsibility for this defeat is from us," Flick said.

"We are responsible. We could play much better, we showed it in the first 15 to 20 minutes but after that, the ball possession was not too good.

"In the end, it's a defeat but the match before after the last break was fantastic, and I really appreciate the team and how they're doing."