Did Lamine Yamal's 'ghost goal' cross the line in El Clasico?

Barcelona were left furious on Sunday evening as they fell 3-2 to Real Madrid in the final Clasico of the 2023/24 season.

Jude Bellingham's stoppage-time winner once again broke Barca hearts but the Catalan side were already seething from a first-half incident. With the score tied at 1-1, Lamine Yamal flicked a corner towards Andriy Lunin's goal in the 28th minute but the Madrid stopper scrambled the ball away from behind his own line.

The dilemma here is that La Liga does not have any goal-line technology, meaning the referee team must rely on their own eyes and the camera angles available to them to make such a call. It was ruled that the entirety of the ball did not cross Lunin's line and, as a result, no goal was given.

Barca manager Xavi was left furious and admitted it was a "shame" that there was no technology to award what he felt was a certain goal.

However, analysis after the game appears to show that the referee made the right decision in continuing the match.

Indeed, images from beIN SPORTS, Canal+ and Relevo all showed there was still a fraction of the ball which did not cross the line before Lunin managed to claw it away.

There is no denying that, without technology, it appeared as though the ball had crossed the line, but all the officials could use was a typical VAR check, which does not include the required camera angles to make a definitive decision on goals.

However, Archivo VAR did claim to have found confirmation that Yamal's effort should have been awarded.

One of the outcomes of the incident has been renewed scrutiny towards La Liga president Javier Tebas, with reports suggesting he does not want to face the annual cost of €4m it would require to introduce goal-line technology across Spain's top two divisions.

Tebas responded to the incident on social media by sharing old news reports about goal-line technology errors with the simple caption: "No comment."

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