Real Madrid benefit from disgraceful VAR penalty as Gareth Bale loses his cool with team-mates vs Levante

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Ben Hayward25 February 2019

Real Madrid are no longer complaining about VAR. Following weeks of ranting and raging at the video assistant referee at the start of the year, decisions have fallen in favour of Los Blancos recently.

And last night, away to Levante, the European champions benefited from a disgraceful penalty award which handed them a victory they had not really deserved.

Santiago Solari's side were outplayed by Levante at the Ciutat de Valencia, coming out on top thanks to two spot-kicks - one in each half — converted by Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, respectively. And if the first of those was contentious, the second was nothing short of a scandal.

With the scores at 0-0, Madrid won a penalty late in the first half when Enis Bardhi was adjudged to have handled a Luka Modric cross.

The Levante midfielder had raised his arm, although it was only to protect his face and the action did not appear deliberate. That said, his arm was in an unnatural position, separated from his body, and he was just inside the area. By 24 centimetres, Spanish show El Chringuito claimed later.

In Pictures | Levante vs Real Madrid | 24/02/19

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Handball is always ambiguous, but it is at least understandable to see why that penalty was given.

What came later, after Benzema had stepped up to score his 20th goal of the season in all competitions, less so.

With Levante back level at 1-1 after Roger Marti netted with a fine finish, having earlier hit the post twice in the first half, the game looked to be heading for a hard-fought draw until a controversial call late on swung the match Madrid's way.

Substitute Cheick Doukoure swung his right leg in an attempt to clear a ball in his area and in close proximity, Casemiro threw himself theatrically to the turf.

The referee pointed to the spot and was immediately surrounded by a number of Levante players, indignant and incredulous at the same time.

Replays show that the contact was either minimal or non-existent and the referee consulted his colleagues, but the decision was not overturned and for some reason, the official did not go to the side of the pitch to watch the incident repeated.

Had he done so, he surely would have changed his mind and it is extremely difficult to understand how such a call can happen in the VAR era. This is exactly what it is supposed to prevent.

"I believe Casemiro," Solari said afterwards. "He says he was clearly caught on the ankle." Vinicius Junior added: "Casemiro told us he was caught... and if he catches him, it's a penalty."

But Levante's president, Quico Catalan, said: "In the second penalty, there's no contact. If he catches him, he leaves in an ambulance!"

Karim Benzema now has 20 goals in all competitions this season for Real Madrid.
REUTERS

On Twitter, former Atletico striker Paulo Futre wrote, alongside a swimming pool emoji: "As the no. 1 diver that I was, I can say that Casemiro is at Michael Phelps' level. My respects!"

Atletico's own Twitter account even got involved. "Oscars night has started in style!" they tweeted. "A film? #TheNeverEndingStory. Atletico fans, which one would you choose?"

Dani Carvajal, who could have given away a penalty himself earlier in the evening following a challenge on Jose Luis Morales, hit back. "I recommend 'At the heart of La Décima" and 'Undécima'," he tweeted in reply, in reference to the two Champions League finals won by Real against Atletico in 2014 and 2016. "I even have them on DVD."

By the time all of that was going on, the game had long since finished and Bale's coolly converted penalty handed Madrid the three points, the Welsh winger ensuring he too would end up in the news for the wrong reasons afterwards as he shrugged off a congratulatory pat on the back from Lucas Vazquez before evading several more of his team-mates on the way back to the centre circle.

Bale is clearly fed up at the moment and is angry at some of his team-mates talking about him in interviews. Recently, Marcelo said the Welshman could not speak Spanish and that the players talk to him with gestures, with Thibaut Courtois claiming that he has not adapted to the lifestyle, that he did not attend a group meal because it was starting at 10:15pm and revealing that the squad call him "the golfer" because of all the time he spends out on the course.

None of that has won him much sympathy in Spain, though, and El Chringuito told Madrid president Florentino Perez to "throw him out" in a bitter editorial late last night. Meanwhile, senior AS columnist Alfredo Relaño called the 29-year-old "disgraceful".

Levante levelled at 1-1, hit the post twice and felt aggrieved after the second penalty decision went against them.
AFP/Getty Images

What was "disgraceful", though, was the second penalty awarded to Real and Levante's fans thought so too as they chanted "Florentino, Florentino", in reference to Madrid's powerful president, who personally called Spanish Federation chief Luis Rubiales to complain about VAR recently and was in attendance at the Ciutat de Valencia last night.

And in front of the television cameras, the club's director of institutional relations Emilio Butragueño later said: "We don't like to talk about referees. We never have."

At least, that is, until the next time a decision goes against them.

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