Marco van Basten, Dutch footballing legend
Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images
Barcelona’s poor run of form continued this week as they were held to a 3-3 draw by Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League.
In many ways, Barcelona were quite lucky to escape with a draw as Brugge had almost secured a late win.
Much to Barcelona’s fortune, the match was overshadowed by a highly controversial VAR decision in the final stages, which has prompted a reaction from one of football’s greats: Marco van Basten.
The incident occurred late in the game when Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who has been in a terrible run of form, lost control of the ball near his own goal line.
Club Brugge striker Vermant pounced on the error, and the ball ended up in the net for what would have been a late, decisive goal for the Belgian side.
However, referee Anthony Taylor, after VAR intervention, disallowed the goal, ruling that Vermant had fouled Szczesny in the process of challenging for the loose ball.
Wojciech Szczesny, Barcelona player
Did Szczesny get lucky vs Club Brugge? (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
The decision has drawn sharp criticism, most notably from Dutch legend Marco van Basten, who believes the decision was an injustice.
“Brugge have been robbed in a clear way,” Van Basten said (h/t Diario SPORT). “His fourth goal should have gone on the scoreboard without a doubt.”
Analysing the play, the former striker clarified that, in his view, the foul was actually committed by the goalkeeper, who was trying to cover up his own mistake.
“The striker is not needed at any time. He takes advantage of the mistake and does not even touch the goalkeeper,” he said.
“It was Szczesny himself who made it look like it was a foul with contact. It wasn’t, and in the end, it was decisive because it would have meant the victory of the Belgian team,” he concluded.
Ansu Fati of AS Monaco and FC Barcelona
Ansu Fati of AS Monaco and FC Barcelona