Barcelona's protest highlights a perceived lack of unified criteria in officiating, particularly citing inconsistent red card decisions, contrasting handball calls, and questionable VAR applications. The club also notes an accumulation of errors that always seem to detriment them, questioning the transparency of some reviews.
The five grievances specifically include comparing Frenkie de Jong's red card to a similar unpunished challenge, inconsistent handball judgments, questionable technology use, disparity in VAR recalls, and the overall impact on competition integrity. Barcelona maintains they respect referees' professionalism but demand urgent review of applied criteria to ensure equal treatment.