October 18, 2026
FC Barcelona’s impressive victory over Real Betis with a score of (5-2) sparked a wave of arbitration controversy in the Spanish sports street, against the backdrop of criticism directed by the “Defensa Central” website, which is close to Real Madrid, of the decisions of the refereeing team, considering that canceling a goal for the Andalusian team affected the course of the match and deprived it of the opportunity to recover the result.
The controversy centered, according to the “Goal” network, around the goal scored by Argentine Giovani Lo Celso, which was canceled by referee Ricardo de Burgos Benguechea after returning to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, under the pretext of an unintentional handball from Betis striker Cucho Hernandez at the beginning of the attack.
The “Defensa Central” website indicated that canceling the goal prevented Betis from adjusting the score (2-2) before the end of the first half, and gave Barcelona an advantage in the race to compete for the Spanish League title, pointing out that the handball occurred a period of time before Lo Celso shot the ball, which sparked widespread protests from the players of the Andalusian team and its technical staff.
The match witnessed tense field events, as Barcelona took an early lead through Lamine Yamal in the ninth minute, before Valentin Gomez equalized for Betis with a header, then Rodri Hernandez scored Barcelona’s second goal in the 40th minute. Following the decision to cancel Lo Celso’s goal, the referee showed a yellow card to Betis’ coach, Manuel Pellegrini, for his strong protest against the decision.
In the second half, Abdel Samad Zalzouli added the goal to reduce Betis in the 52nd minute, before the team’s affairs worsened when his player Facundo Bernal was expelled following a verbal altercation with Lamine Yamal. According to the report, the incident began with a push from the Barcelona player, and Bernal grabbed his head, which led to the Betis player being sent off and Yamal continuing on the field without a similar penalty.
This controversy comes in light of the continuing criticism and mutual accusations regarding arbitration in Spanish League competitions, at a time when the objections of the “Defensa Central” website express its point of view regarding controversial cases, without necessarily meaning the presence of an official arbitration bias in favor of the Catalan club.
