Robbery in the Clásico! All the controversies of the 1st half of Barça-Madrid

Real Madrid took just 4 minutes to tip the scales in their favor in the Clásico. The Whites went 0-2 up in the opening quarter of an hour thanks to a double by Kylian Mbappé preceded by two refereeing errors, one from VAR and one from the main Alejandro Hernández Hernández.

Barça's fears about the telematic meeting that the Arrecife judge held, just 48 hours before the match, with members of the Technical Committee of Referees, Javier Tebas and some Madrid directors, had a very quick effect on the Clásico.

In the 3rd minute, the Canary Islands referee sanctioned a penalty by Wojciech Szczesny on Madrid's '9' preceded by a clear offside by the French international. The referee waited for confirmation from the VOR room and, finally, Munuera Montero, in charge of the VAR, gave the 'ok' to the striker's position.

The VAR omitted a very clear offside by Mbappé prior to the penalty

However, the images from the television broadcast showed that, at the moment of the through ball by Fede Valverde, Mbappé was slightly ahead of Dani Olmo, who had retreated behind Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí to lend a hand in the marking.

To make matters worse, LaLiga never showed the semi-automatic VAR image to corroborate the position of the 'merengue' striker. After the penalty was validated, Kylian chose to kick across with a powerful right-footed shot.

Szczesny managed to touch the ball, but the shot had just enough power and placement to leave the Pole with no options. With that goal, 'Kiki' equaled Robert Lewandowski at the top of the LaLiga scoring charts.

Mbappé's double preceded by a clear foul on Lamine Yamal

In the 14th minute, Madrid went 0-2 up with another goal from Mbappé, who this time took advantage of a through ball from Vinicius to get away from Cubarsí in a run and finish in the one-on-one against Szczesny.

The Brazilian's assist was preceded by a clear stamp by Fede Valverde on Lamine Yamal overlooked by Hernández Hernández and the linesman.

The Canary Islands referee had the play in front of him, so the VAR only intervened to review the striker's position. Curiously, this time there was an image of the semi-automatic VAR in the play.

Brutal comeback from Barça despite the refereeing errors

Barça players talk with referee Hernández Hernández during the Clásico (4-3)

Despite the refereeing favors, Barça crushed Madrid's defense with a brutal comeback. Hansi Flick's side scored 4 goals in 26 minutes to turn the game around before half-time, thanks to goals from Eric García, Lamine Yamal and a double from Raphinha.

Before the second goal from the Brazilian winger, in the 36th minute, Hernández Hernández spared Aurélien Tchouaméni a clear red card for a foul on Ferran Torres. The Frenchman was the last man, but the referee only showed him the yellow card, claiming that the 'Shark' was not heading towards the area, but towards the side.

Even with a scandalous performance from the referees, Barcelona once again crushed the 'merengue' defense with 4 goals that now total 16 in the four Clásicos played so far. Against everything and everyone, the 'culés' are moving firmly towards the Liga title.

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Hernández Hernández's disastrous performance worsened in the second half

The controversies, however, did not cease in the second half of the Barça-Madrid match. Although the officials correctly disallowed another goal by Raphinha in the 53rd minute for an earlier offside by Lamine, in the 80th minute, with the score already 4-3 after Mbappé's third goal, Hernández Hernández refused to award a blatant penalty for Tchouaméni's handball.

The Frenchman, who had been fortunate to avoid a red card before halftime, deflected a shot from Fermín López with his left arm near the penalty spot. The handball was punishable, as his arm was extended away from his body and deflected a ball that was heading towards the goal.

What was most baffling is that Munuera Montero, from the VOR room, called the head referee to review the play, and the latter, after looking at the monitor, decided not to award the penalty and instead called a subsequent foul by Fermín, for which the player from Huelva was booked.

The '16' would once again be at the center of attention in stoppage time, after scoring a wonder goal that was disallowed for an accidental handball while dispossessing Valverde near the touchline. The rules state that if a player touches the ball with their hand before scoring, the goal must be disallowed.

In that instance, VAR made the right call, but clearly, the refereeing performance in El Clásico was woeful, with multiple errors that tipped the scales in favor of Real Madrid. Even so, Barça secured a victory that is worth half the La Liga title.