FC Barcelona walked away as the fortunate victors from the Estadio de Dragao in Portugal. The Catalan giants overcame a resilient FC Porto side and managed to take away all three points that now see Barca top their Group H with six points achieved out of six from their first two games.
However, it is no secret that many of the Barcelona players struggled in this game. The pressure and resilience of Porto are worth crediting as they gave the Catalans an incredibly hard time and ensured that La Blaugrana struggled in this game.
A result of their consistent pressure was that Barcelona barely survived two penalties that could have been awarded against them. In either case, it seemed very possible that Porto may have gotten a penalty awarded to them but Barcelona would end up escaping courtesy of some great luck favoring them.
Former La Liga and Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz, infamous for his rather frequent distribution of cards, was among those analyzing the game. While talking to Moviestar+, as highlighted by SPORT, he gave his own two cents about the decisions.
Kounde’s incident
The first came close to the 20th-minute mark when Jules Kounde and Mehdi Taremi locked horns in the Barcelona box. Turning to shoot at the Barca goal, Kounde was seen pulling Taremi back and even lunging for a tackle that possibly may have hindered an already-diving Taremi as well.
According to Lahoz, the situation was entirely one of those grey moments that referees have to sometimes make their minds up about. Given that the primary issue was to assess whether the contact was enough to truly make Taremi fall, Lahoz considers this as a moment that if Anthony Taylor had given a penalty for, it would have been alright.
“Koundé took a risk. If Taylor had decided to award a penalty, there would be nothing to say. It’s a gray area.”
Cancelo’s handball
The second case of a potential penalty being awarded occurred in the 77th minute. Originally, Joao Cancelo was seen deliberately using his arm to control the ball midair to divert it away from the incoming Stephen Eustaquio, and Anthony Taylor directly pointed to the spot.
However, an intervention from the Virtual assistant referee made Taylor take another look at the incident following which it was decided that even before Cancelo’s own handball took place, Eustaquio himself used his arm to control the ball and direct it towards the Barcelona box.
Moreover, there was then the entire problem of checking if Cancelo’s handball even took place within the box or not as it seemed disputed. For Lahoz however, the second incident should have merited a penalty since he considers Eustaquio’s arm to have been legally allowed given the extent of it touching his body when the ball arrived, and disagrees with the final VAR decision:
“I have doubts about Cancelo’s handball. I’m not sure if it’s preceded by Eustaquio’s handball. From the footage I see… it’s part of the legal play. It would be Cancelo’s handball and a penalty/foul.”
Recent retirement
Having acted as a La Liga referee for almost 15 years, Mateu Lahoz retired this year in the summer as an official. He remained a La Liga referee from 2008 all the way until 2023, the current year in which he hung up his boots.
Considered a controversial referee by many, Lahoz was particularly infamous for how frequently he handed out warnings and cards. He was also the referee in charge of the Argentina vs. Netherlands clash in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, one that is now recorded as the World Cup game with the most cards handed out in a single match.
