Barcelona files a complaint with the Spanish federation over the destruction of the referees during the Copa del Rey match against Atletico Madrid

Spanish champions Barcelona filed a complaint with the country’s football federation (RFEF) on Saturday, criticizing perceived inconsistencies in refereeing.

Triggered by the club’s anger over a controversial disallowed goal in the 4-0 Copa del Rey defeat to Atletico Madrid on Thursday, Barca wrote a letter to the RFEF and the Spanish Refereeing Commission (CTA), demanding greater transparency.

Barca said in a statement that the letter expresses “deep concern about repeated refereeing decisions which it considers detrimental (to the club) and which lacks a consistent standard”.

The Catalan giant highlighted “the existence of disparate decisions responding to actions of identical nature”, which, according to him, creates a “double standard” iusj4.

Barca said there has been a “pattern of blatant refereeing errors” throughout the season, many of which have caused setbacks, which “directly affects the integrity of the competition and fuels growing distrust”.

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It also called for greater transparency in the use of VAR, with clearer criteria for when referees are called upon to review actions, and requested the full publication of all VAR audio.

Several other clubs have complained about referees in Spain this season, while Real Madrid has regularly criticized referees through its television channel over the past two seasons.

In February 2025, Real Madrid published an open letter claiming the Spanish referees had been “manipulated” and “completely discredited” following their surprise defeat at Espanyol.

Barcelona is currently being investigated by Spanish authorities in a sports corruption case after former CTA vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez paid Negreira seven million euros ($8.3 million) over several years. The club denies that anything went wrong.

Published on February 14, 2026