Controversies will always exist even with VAR, admits Ernesto Valverde

2019’s final El Clasico may have ended goalless but it wasn’t for the lack of chances as Gareth Bale saw his goal ruled out, alongside two goal-line clearances from Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique at either end. Not only that, Real Madrid despite being the dominant side struggled to beat Marc Andre Ter Stegen with the German put to the test on multiple occasions. However, the Los Blancos also had two penalty attempts turned down for challenges on Raphael Varane with the club highlighting that fact after the game.

They questioned why neither challenge wasn’t given as a penalty and Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde admitted that VAR will never bring an end to players complaint’s over a referee’s decision. This comes after both Sergio Ramos and Casemiro raged against the decision going against them and Valverde added that things will not change in 2020 either as the media needs something to fill their air-time or pages.

"We have said it many times, VAR will not end controversy because it's a vital part of football. The referee is the person who takes the decisions and VAR is there to help him and sometimes one team will complain and another time others will. It will be exactly the same in 2020," said Valverde reported ESPN.

"There are endless debates in football, pre-match discussions, post-match shows, newspaper columns to fill and people always have something to say. It's normal that people talk about referee's decisions a lot but we cannot fix it, controversy will always exist, and everyone can interpret decisions however they like," he added