La Liga breaks one of its biggest taboos: historic precedent in the Atletico and Levante match
What's the story?
Levante's clash with Atletico Madrid at the "Ciutat de Valencia" stadium on Saturday produced a La Liga first. Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea emerged after the match to explain its most contentious decisions, spelling out why he had chalked off two goals for the visitors, booked hosts' coach Luis Castro and dismissed a member of Levante's equipment staff.
His appearance came on the "Movistar" channel, part of a joint initiative between La Liga, the Spanish Football Federation and the referees' union. For the first time, referees were allowed to explain their calls in the most controversial situations across two of the day's fixtures.
De Burgos opened with a message of solidarity to the victims of the Toledo accident and their families. He then turned to Atletico's first disallowed goal. The officials initially let play continue, he said, before VAR intervened and flagged an offside.
"There was an offside that we allowed to continue on the pitch, and from the video assistant referee room they told us that the system indicated an offside, and we simply had to correct the play and change the goal to an offside," De Burgos said.
On the second ruled-out goal, he explained that the officials made the call on the pitch and the technology then backed them up. "In the second incident we took the decision on the pitch to disallow the goal, and the system confirms that we were right," he added.
The disciplinary decisions came next. Castro picked up a yellow card for overstepping the mark with his comments, while a member of Levante's equipment staff was sent off after repeated complaints about his conduct.
"We received several complaints, the last of them relating to improper conduct, and we took the decision to send him off in accordance with the regulations," the referee said.
De Burgos also lifted the lid on the moment Levante's Ivan Romero complained of being caught by an elbow. The contact came behind the player's back, he confirmed, and VAR reviewed the footage before judging it a normal part of the play, with no offence to warrant any action.
