Barcelona Suffered a Loss: Technical Committee Confirms a Fatal VAR Error in Girona's Home Ground

The narrow defeat suffered by Barcelona during their visit to Girona’s home ground, Estadi Montilivi, in the 24th week of the Spanish League (LaLiga) 2025-2026 continues to spark heated debate.

Although they initially took the lead with a goal scored by Pau Cubarsi, Barcelona had to concede points and lost 1-2 to Girona.

This was due to goals scored by Thomas Lemar (62’) and a late goal by Fran Beltran (86’).

However, this victory is now overshadowed by an official statement from the refereeing authorities regarding the validity of the goal that proved decisive for Barcelona.

This is because the process leading to Beltran’s goal began with an incident in which Girona striker, Claudio Echeverri, clearly stepped on Jules Kounde’s foot, a foul that was overlooked by both the on-field referee, Cesar Soto Grado, and the VAR officials in the control room.

The CTA stated that the incident of Claudio Echeverri stepping on Jules Kounde should have resulted in a foul and the cancellation of the goal.

However, David Galvez Rascon, who was in charge of VAR, did not intervene.

In its explanation, the CTA emphasized that the foul occurred during the same attacking phase before the goal was scored.

In this regard, the committee issued the following official statement:

“VAR considered it an action open to interpretation by the referee. But if a player steps on an opponent with unnecessary force, it should be penalized,” the CTA explained, as quoted by Barca Universal.

“According to the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), the Girona striker carelessly stepped on his opponent, causing the opponent to be taken out of the defensive play.”

This refereeing error is not the only incident highlighted by the committee this week.

The CTA also reviewed several other matches, including a difficult decision in the Real Betis vs Rayo Vallecano match, as well as a review of a penalty in the Athletic Bilbao match against Elche.