Ansu Fati red card: Barcelona star sent off after VAR review vs Espanyol

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Tom Doyle8 July 2020

Barcelona were embroiled in more VAR controversy on Wednesday night as Ansu Fati was sent off following a review during their must-win LaLiga clash against Espanyol.

Fati came on at half-time of the derby clash with the scores level at 0-0, but the 17-year-old forward lasted just five minutes.

The rising star caught Fernando Calero with a high boot and was shown a yellow card, but that was upgraded to a red card following a VAR review.

The decision left Barca fighting an uphill battle - but another VAR review soon levelled the numbers.

Espanuyol's Pol Lozano caught Gerard Pique on the shin two minutes after Fati was given his marching orders, and another VAR review resulted in another red card.

Prior to the match, Barcelona coach Quique Setien says there have been "strange situations" with VAR and believes the implementation of the technology needs to be improved.

After Barca's 4-1 win at Villarreal on Sunday night, president Josep Maria Bartomeu complained that all the decisions since the restart had gone Real Madrid's way, with Los Blancos having earlier beaten Athletic Club 1-0 thanks to a late penalty.

Asked if he thought Real Madrid could win LaLiga thanks to VAR, he said: "Sometimes the decisions favour one team or another. Sometimes they are right and other times they make mistakes.

"There's always a team that benefits and one that is hurt.

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