A Shocking Assessment of the Refereeing in the Atlético-Barcelona Match

Getty Images Sport | Apr 05, 2026 04:39+06:00 | Translated by A shocking assessment of the refereeing in the Atlético–Barcelona match Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona | Atletico Madrid | Barcelona | LaLiga | Spain Barcelona secured a thrilling 2-1 victory away to Atlético Madrid on Saturday evening in Matchday 30 of La Liga. Barcelona, the La Liga leaders, extended their lead over closest rivals Real Madrid to seven points after Los Blancos lost to Real Mallorca. Meanwhile, Atlético Madrid remain on 57 points in fourth place. The match was refereed by Busquets Ferrer, who received a shocking rating from the website ‘Archivo VAR’, which specialises in refereeing decisions. "Archivo VAR" gave referee Busquets Ferrer a score of 2 out of 10 after he poorly officiated the match between Atlético and Barça.
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Video technology is used to correct the referee’s mistakes "Archivo VAR" reported that Bosquets Ferrer is not currently at his best, a fact he confirmed once again by making a series of errors that had to be corrected by VAR. Ferrer showed eight yellow cards but failed to issue some clear-cut ones, appearing flustered and lacking the required standard. The match saw two controversial incidents, in both of which VAR had to intervene to overturn Bosquets Ferrer’s initial decisions. The first incident occurred in the first half, when Nicolás González, who was already on a yellow card, brought down Yamal, denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity; this incident warranted a straight red card, not a second yellow. The second incident occurred in the second half, where VAR was forced to intervene once again, as Bosquets Ferrer brandished a straight red card at Gerard Martín in a play that the Technical Committee of Referees classified as deserving only a yellow card. Martín reached the ball first and controlled it, before making contact with Thiago Almada’s ankle as the latter entered his area of movement, leading to the Barcelona player’s sending-off being rescinded.
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