Barcelona player reacts to Real Madrid VAR controversy on social media

Originally posted on Football Espana | By Ruairidh Barlow | Last updated 1/22/24

Real Madrid secured an invaluable three points in the 99th minute against Almeria, but it was mired in controversy. There were no shortage of opinions on the matter, including from Inigo Martinez, although he did not drop a soundbite.

Carlo Ancelotti claimed that all three of the VAR-reviewed decisions were correctly called, but Marc Pubill of Almeria claimed conspiracy, and Gonzalo Melero also spoke of robbery. Meanwhile Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez said there were things that ‘didn’t fit’ for him.

Martinez also shared his opinion on social media, posting a laughing Shaquille O’Neal GIF shortly after the match, leaving little to the imagination about what he thought of the decisions.

Ig story Iñigo Martínez. pic.twitter.com/7y3zGugfQk

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) January 21, 2024

Almeria’s official account was also full of fury, noting that fans ‘should not expect a match report, because we all saw what happened’.

No esperéis que publiquemos la crónica del partido. Todo está más que claro.

— UD Almería (@U_D_Almeria) January 21, 2024

As the Andalusians would also go on to point out, the audios from the decisions were released by the RFEF only raised more questions, with the on-field referee not given all of the footage in two cases to make the decisions.

¿Por qué no se le muestran al árbitro el resto de ángulos que hemos podido ver en TV? https://t.co/tGc8fTusvu

— UD Almería (@U_D_Almeria) January 21, 2024