VAR puts Real Madrid at the top of an unusual LaLiga list

Real Madrid tops the list of clubs with the most goals disallowed by VAR in LaLiga, having had 42 goals ruled out since the technology was implemented in the 2018/2019 season, according to statistics published by the newspaper "Mundo Deportivo".

Atlético and Villarreal follow with 22 disallowed goals each, while Celta Vigo, Real Sociedad, and Sevilla each had 20 goals disallowed. Meanwhile, FC Barcelona had 19 disallowed goals, 23 fewer than Real Madrid.

Vinicius Junior's incident against Villarreal is the latest example of VAR intervention to disallow a goal for Real Madrid. In the match that ended with Real Madrid winning 1-0, a goal by Vinicius Junior was disallowed that would have given his team a two-goal lead, after a review showed the player pulling the hair of a Villarreal player during the attack.

Referee Isidro Díaz de Mera initially did not award the foul, but was called by the VAR to review the incident, leading to the decision to disallow the goal.

The same source clarified that video technology corrected 42 initial decisions under which goals were counted for Real Madrid, averaging nearly five goals per season, noting that these goals would have been counted had the technology not been in place.

Statistics show that the average number of disallowed goals that could have been counted for Real Madrid in the absence of video technology from 2018 to 2026 was 4.6 goals per season, compared to 2.1 for FC Barcelona, 2.4 for Atlético and Villarreal, and 2.2 for Celta Vigo, Real Sociedad, and Sevilla.