• Chronicle: Cheryshev signs Athletic's first league defeat at home in a year
  • Classification: First Division

For a virtual line.

The last Spanish football war has broken out on a virtual line on a Saturday morning in an Athletic-Valencia . On one side of the ring, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, responsible for arbitration and VAR; in the other, Mediapro, producer of all First and Second Division matches. In the center, the poor Spanish football, watching the commanders come and go, eating more than one along the way. Or as an adult putting peace between two small children in the tantrum, so much.

The matter, starting, is as follows: Valencia player Cheryshev scores the only goal of the game in the 27th minute of the match, with reasonable doubt whether Maxi Gomez receives offside at the start of the action . The VAR, as appropriate, reviews the play and tells the referee that the goal is legal. The problem comes when, five minutes later, the performance shows a still picture of the play with an overlapping line in which it is appreciated that Maxi Gomez is offside. Already in the second half, the television shows the official image that the VAR has used to analyze the play, in which the Uruguayan is slightly behind Iñigo Martínez, the last marker of Athletic.

The thing could have stayed there. Perhaps with a slight and fair reprimand from the RFEF to Mediapro for drawing an offside line on their own, which led to the confusion of many spectators watching the game on television. But that would not be typical of the current Spanish football, in which any spark is good to generate a monumental fire.

In a show of restraint and proportionality, the RFEF published a statement to denounce that "those responsible for the retransmission of the party [ie, Mediapro] have crossed a red line intolerable and must respond accordingly to the competent bodies for their illegal action and if it were the case, criminal. " It might seem excessive, but it is, justifies the RFEF, of "a maneuver that can create a social alarm . "

It is the first virtual criminal line and generator of social alarm in the history of mankind.

The thing could also have stayed there, with Mediapro letting the disproportionate RFEF statement discredit itself. But who would resist continuing to wind, continue to fan the fire? The producer of Jaume Roures replied saying that they did not have the official image of the VAR "until 40 minutes later" of the goal (version that the VAR technology manager denied this Sunday on Wave Zero ) and that in this situation they decided to draw their own line. For lack of ideas and initiative that is not. "To describe this as manipulation and accuse of creating social alarm and criminal attitude is to go beyond all the limits, perhaps driven by the criticisms and comments that the VAR has received due to the serious problems and delays that it is registering this season. ".

And you more.

To culminate the collective horror, Mediapro decided to convene the media on Monday simultaneously in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​as a great premiere in two cities of a Hollywood blockbuster , "to view and attend the explanation, with all the details, of the realization of the Cheryshev goal play. " In this session, the producer showed images of the VOR room at the break with a continuous crowd of people, in addition to seeing the VAR of the meeting (Sánchez Martínez) photographing the image of the discord , allegedly contravening the protocol. Will the next chapter be a complaint from the RFEF to Mediapro for showing those images? I would not miss anyone.

For now, the Rubiales body wanted to clarify two aspects after Mediapro's presentation. " The protocol makes it clear that during the rest, all authorized personnel dependent on the CTA , as well as the operators of the VAR technology, can access the room ," said the RFEF. In addition, the federal agency recalled that " the protocol recommends the use of the mobile phone at rest as 'back up' to be in contact with the field referee ." "In San Mamés, given the confusion created by the performance, Sánchez Martínez communicates at the break with the main referee, to whom he sends the image of the offside that the television production had not broadcast," he said.

And all this fuss, for a virtual line.

Or not.

Because the RFEF-Mediapro war (a derivative of the RFEF-LaLiga war) is a continuous conflict with countless chapters. Since Rubiales decided to fight to recover all the federative powers that Villar gave to LaLiga for a small fee, the RFEF has been dedicated to excluding Mediapro, directly or indirectly, from any public tender. In the long year that Rubiales has been in office, the Roures company has run out of the Copa del Rey final, without the technological production of the VAR, and will run out of the Cup, in full, this season . A full-scale boycott, whose legality, in some cases, is being settled in court. In addition, the conflict over the television rights of women's football remains in force, with Mediapro in possession of those of 12 of the 16 clubs, with almost clandestine broadcast parties due to disagreement and clubs preventing Mediapro from accessing its facilities.

But there is more, there is always more. In recent days, from the different media of Mediapro, mainly Gol, a persistent campaign against Rubiales' intention to take the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia has been initiated, with special programs on the matter and direct references during the LaLiga match he televised on Friday, Villarreal-Betis. A Super Cup that, of course, will not broadcast Mediapro. Well, it has not yet been decided who will, but it is not very bold to say that it will not be the company of Roures.

And let the party continue.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • sports
  • football
  • First division
  • Athletic Bilbao
  • Valencia CF

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