Barcelona have made an official complaint to Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) after being left furious with the refereeing in their 4-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid on Thursday. Barca were thumped in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final in a match packed full of controversy.

Barcelona were 4-0 down by half-time, yet felt they weren't helped by the officiating. They felt Atleti's Giuliano Simeone should have been sent off for a challenge on Alejandro Balde in the second half, but VAR was the main irritant.

Pau Cubarsi's goal was disallowed after a six-and-a-half minute delay, with semi-automated offside technology failing to cut down the time taken to make a decision. Hansi Flick was left none the wiser as to what had happened, with communication breaking down between officials and the Barca manager.

The club have now submitted a formal complaint to RFEF, while also publishing a lengthy statement on their website, which expresses "deep concern over the repeated refereeing decisions it considers damaging to the game and lacking consistent criteria".

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It sets out five areas of concern, which are a lack of consistency, contradictory handball decisions, "accumulation of significant errors", the use and transparency of VAR and the criteria for when the pitchside monitor is used.

The statement says: "FC Barcelona denounces the existence of differing decisions in response to actions of an identical nature, particularly with regard to disciplinary sanctions. This disparity creates a perception of double standards incompatible with the principles of fairness, equality and legal certainty that should govern competitions.

"The club highlights the inconsistency in the interpretation of handball incidents inside the penalty area, even in matches officiated by the same referees. This lack of uniformity reinforces the perception of arbitrariness and unpredictability in the application of the rules.

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"Beyond isolated cases, FC Barcelona points to the repeated occurrence of blatant refereeing errors throughout the season, many of them decisive and to the detriment of the club. This accumulation directly affects the integrity of the competition and generates growing distrust.

"The club expresses reasonable doubts regarding the use and proper application of the technology, particularly in millimetre-level decisions that are not accompanied by conclusive technical explanations. It also denounces the lack of transparency in the management and publication of VAR audio recordings.

"FC Barcelona questions the absence of clear and consistent criteria when referees are sent to review incidents on the pitch-side monitor, which contributes to a perception of insecurity and inequality in decision-making."

It then concludes: "FC Barcelona demands that its requests be examined with the utmost seriousness and that concrete measures be adopted to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future."

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