FC Barcelona suffered a heavy defeat in their visit to Sevilla (4-1), a match where the Sevillians, although superior in the first half, managed to tip the scales in their favor thanks to a non-existent penalty by Ronald Araujo on Isaac Romero. Former Barça player Alexis Sánchez was in charge of opening the scoring in the 13th minute, executing a penalty sanctioned thanks to VAR.

Initially, the referee Alejandro Muñiz Ruiz had allowed play to continue, but Carlos del Cerro Grande, from VAR, called him to review the alleged foul by the Barça defender and captain. Although it was a normal tussle, the main referee chose to penalize the takedown by the '4' of the 'culés', who was also cautioned for protesting.

Mateu Lahoz believes Araujo's penalty "was very serious"

Ronald Araujo's controversial penalty in Sevilla-Barça.

In this regard, the former Spanish international referee, Mateu Lahoz, criticized the decision of Muñiz Ruiz and Del Cerro for whistling a penalty that he considers absurd. In a conversation on the program 'Tiempo de juego' on the 'COPE' network, Lahoz assured that Isaac Romero simulated Araujo's knockdown with a "salmon leap".

"For me, the salmon is when you jump, right? With both feet towards wherever you want. It can slip away from you on the field, because your situation, your location, isn't good," the former Valencian referee began by saying.

In that regard, he added: "it's not that I haven't been awarded a penalty, it's that it's been a long time since I've seen something so serious." According to the VAR protocol for 25/26, the assistant in the VOR room should only intervene in obvious situations. The criteria, therefore, is "minimum intervention, maximum benefit."

Irrulade González agrees: Araujo's penalty was invented

Alejandro Muñiz had already signaled for a goal kick. In that context, Carlos del Cerro should not have intervened. For his part, Eduardo Iturralde González also asserted that it was a judgment call and, for him, there was only a struggle.

"The two grab each other and, when the Sevilla player feels the contact, he throws himself forward. It's a play of judgment and the referee has interpreted it as a penalty," Iturralde pointed out on the 'Carrusel Deportivo' program of the 'SER' network.