Eibar mystified by handball rule after defeat to Real Madrid

Eibar: Eibar coach Jose Luis Mendilibar vented his fury with Spanish referees’ inconsistency over handball decisions after his side were denied a penalty in Sunday’s 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid.

Eibar were trailing 2-1 when the ball struck Real captain Sergio Ramos on the arm but were denied a penalty and match referee Jose Luis Munuera Montero chose not to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.

“We don’t have any idea what’s going on, this week there were a lot of handballs and we don’t know when they should be punished and when they should not be,” the coach told reporters.

“Today a decision was taken in 20 seconds when normally it takes two or three minutes after a slow-motion replay.” Mendilibar loudly protested the decision from the sidelines and got a talking to from the referee before eventually calming down and he was not punished for his complaints.

The coach, who has long opposed the use of video technology in football due to the disrupting effect it has on the game, said he did not think that VAR would help the lack of clarity over handballs.

“It was clear the ball had hit Ramos on the hand, Ramos said so himself, but we don’t know when these incidents should be punished and I don’t think the referees do either,” he added.

“We are left with the same problem we have had all season and it doesn’t matter whether or not we have VAR because the problem will keep existing.” Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal shared Mendilibar’s frustrating over handball decisions even though this time his side benefited from it.

“It’s not clear to us, there are some plays which do not make sense. The criteria needs to be cleared up because otherwise we will protest against any decision,” he said.

But Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane refused to get dragged into the debate when asked whether his side had been let off the hook.

“The most important thing is that it was clear to the referee. It’s the referee’s job to decide, I’m not getting involved,” he said.