Following the injustice against Raphinha: disastrous rating for the referee of the Barcelona-Valencia clash

Barcelona kept their perfect record in the Spanish league intact with a thumping 5-0 win at Valencia in the fourth round.

Lamine Yamal grabbed a brace, with Fermin Lopez, Raphinha and Pedri completing the rout.

"Archivo VAR", a website that specialises in controversial refereeing incidents, handed referee Diaz de Mera Escuderos a rating of 4.75 out of 10 for his display.

According to Archivo VAR, the referee began well before his level gradually dropped, and he found himself repeatedly dealing with situations on the borderline of fouls.

Diaz tried to keep his interventions to a minimum, and the match let him do just that. Then Barcelona upped the tempo. The referee was forced closer to both penalty areas, and it was there that the two most contentious incidents of the game unfolded.

The first came in the first half. Rodri lost the ball on the edge of the box, leaving Danjuma one-on-one with goalkeeper Joan Garcia, and the striker shot with some difficulty as Rodri pressed him from behind.

This was one of those borderline calls. The Barcelona player held the striker slightly by his shoulder, without any clearly obvious foul, and it is the kind of penalty that leans more on the referee's judgement on the pitch than on video technology.

The second incident genuinely called for VAR. Mavo touched the ball lightly, then brought down Raphinha inside the area, and the Brazilian had the ball under control and could have played on had he not gone to ground.

Archivo VAR stressed: "This is one of the situations that shows that touching the ball does not exempt players from committing a foul. It is a penalty. Although Mavo touched the ball, his foul prevented the Brazilian player from continuing to play."