Celta Vigo captain Iago Aspas threw the pitchside VAR monitor to the ground after the on-field referee had used it to overturn a late penalty decision that had been awarded in Celta’s favour during their 1-1 draw with Sevilla in LaLiga on Saturday.
Aspas had been substituted with his team winning 1-0, shortly after teammate Renato Tapia had been sent off, and was on the sidelines as Sevilla forward Youssef En-Nesyri equalised in the 84th minute.
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However, 10-man Celta thought they had a chance to reclaim their lead and take all three points in the dying minutes of the match when referee Alejandro Hernandez awarded a penalty with Anastasios Douvikas adjudged to have been pulled to the floor by Jesús Navas.
Aspas was seemingly incensed after Hernandez overturned his original decision following advice from the VAR and the former Liverpool forward took his frustrations out on the pitchside monitor before being ushered away by a Celta coach.
“The balance always falls on the same side,” Aspas told DAZN Sport after the final whistle. “And today when it could have favoured us, he goes to the VAR to see it when all of Spain has seen it.
“We have been through 12 days and in seven games the balance always falls the other way. We want to be the best league in the world and we are not advancing like this.”
Celta, who are coached by former Real Madrid and Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, are 18th in the LaLiga table having won just one of their 12 matches so far this season.
Benitez has previously hit out at VAR when his side had a goal ruled out in their 2-1 LaLiga defeat at Las Palmas on Oct. 3.
Celta thought they opened the scoring in the first half through Jørgen Strand Larsen but it was disallowed after a VAR review adjudged Las Palmas defender Mika Mármol was fouled in the buildup.
“How can we not lose in the end? If we score a legal goal and they take it away from you,” Benitez said in his postmatch interview.
“In that play, my player is ahead, he is in front, I’m watching it right now. I don’t understand where the foul is. We will have to play something else if that is a foul.
“Anyone can see it, it makes no sense to call those things. It can’t be, this is football. We’re not talking about pingpong. We’re continually rowing against the current.”
