Barcelona Boss Quique Setien Slams LaLiga Officials' Use Of VAR

Barcelona manager, Quique Setien, has slammed the use of Video Assitant Referee (VAR) in LaLiga after bitter rivals Real Madrid took advantage of three close calls to go above his side in the title race.

AllNews reports how it has affected the Spanish La Liga title race with the Spanish giant's coach reaction to these events.

Sergio Ramos' penalty and Karim Benzema's shot from afar ensured Real went to the top of the table with a controversial 2-1 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday night.

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The spot-kick awarded to Zinedine Zidane's team, later converted by Ramos, was indeed a dubious one and one of three close calls that all went Madrid's way at the Reale Arena.

Vinicius won the penalty that put them ahead after his legs tangled with Sociedad defender Diego Llorente and he was off-balance as he shot, but there would have been few complaints had it not been given.

Real Sociedad thought they had equalized when Adnan Januzaj found the back of the net. Still, Mikel Merino judge to have been offside in the build-up, a decision former Real Madrid and Barcelona player Bernd Schuster called 'ridiculous.'

Then came a third controversial incident as Benzema turned in the second goal, and eventual winner, on 70 minutes. The Frenchman controlled the ball with his shoulder before firing through a crowd of players and into the net.

Sociedad's players claimed handball, but Benzema pointed to his shoulder, and the goal stood. It helped Real go ahead of Barcelona on their superior head-to-head record with eight games left to play this season, and a frustrated Setien aimed the use of VAR by LaLiga referees ahead of their game against Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday, insisting it is 'not being used correctly.'

'There are things that we cannot control and that do not depend on us. Everybody saw what happened in Anoeta, and everyone will draw their conclusions,' Setien said.

'Understandably, we think why there are some actions that are reviewed, the referee himself reviews them, and they don't do the same in other plays.

'They do it on some matches and in some others (they don't). So you could really think that (VAR) is not being used correctly.

'We've been here for many years, and this doesn't change. It's always the same; the controversy will always be there.

'VAR is a tool that can make us better, but we have to use it to have a clearer view of reality.'