A new angle has emerged on Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal’s ‘ghost goal’ against Real Madrid.
La Liga came under fire during Sunday’s Clasico at the Bernabeu after the 16-year-old thought he had given the Catalans the lead with a corner kick.
Yamal’s shot appeared to have beaten goalkeeper Andriy Lunin before the Ukrainian managed to push the ball away from the goal.
The clash was tied 1-1 at the time, but the Spanish top flight does not have goal-line technology in play.
As a result, the referee waved play on and VAR was unable to confirm whether he had indeed crossed the line, with only two angles available in the replay.
A new angle on Lamine Yamal’s ‘ghost goal’ from Barcelona to Real Madrid
Yamal’s shot seemed to have crossed the line but the goal did not come after the VAR control.
However, a new angle to the incident emerged where Yamal’s shot (below left) appeared to have crossed the line, with the Real Lunin goalkeeper pushing the ball away behind the line.
The score was 1-1 at the time of the ghost goal and Real won 2-1 over their rival.
However, a new angle of the alleged goal was shared in a clip on redditwhere it appears as if the ball has crossed the goal line.
In the video, Real goalkeeper Lunin can be seen inside his goal and desperately trying to push the ball away, but the goal was not awarded.
This meant Yamal was unable to add the gong of youngest Clásico goalscorer to his growing list of achievements.
LaLiga’s stance on goal-line technology is different to that of the Premier League, which has the technology to resolve these types of incidents in seconds and referees receive a signal on their watch that tells them if the ball has crossed the line or not.
Spanish media El Larguero reported that La Liga president Javier Tebas does not want to pay the 2.6 million pounds that the technology costs.
Fans couldn’t believe Yamal’s goal wasn’t a goal but Tebas quickly defended their league’s lack of technology.
The LaLiga president published a series of articles about moments where goal-line technology has made mistakes, including an infamous ghost goal in Sheffield United’s Premier League clash against Aston Villa in 2020.
Tebas wrote ‘no comments’ next to the images in X, in a clear response to the criticism.
Meanwhile, Barcelona coach Xavi fumed at the perception of further refereeing injustice after Lamal’s ghost goal.
“I’m not going to say anything about the referee because I’ll be penalized if I do, but it was there for everyone to see,” he said. “Tonight we were the better team and we deserved to win.
Javier Tebas reminded the fans that even goal technology can make mistakes
In a series of photos, Tebas shared incidents where goal-line technology had failed.
Barcelona manager Xavi was furious about the incident, which likely ended his team’s title hopes.
‘The referee did not make a correct decision. It is a shame and we must not remain silent.
“I was hoping the referee would go unnoticed or get his decisions right, but it was neither of those things.”
Lamal’s ghost goal was a costly moment for Barcelona as, although they took the lead thanks to Fermín López in the second half, Lucas Vázquez equalized before Jude Bellingham scored the winner in injury time.
This means the LaLiga title race is almost over, with Real 11 points clear with just six games left as they chase a 36th crown in the country, extending their record.
