El Clasico Controversy: Why La Liga has no goal line technology after Madrid and Barcelona incident

Barcelona fans would certainly feel cheated after an apparent goal was not given against Real Madrid in their El Clasico clash, despite the ball appearing to have crossed the goal line.

Andreas Christensen gave Barca the lead in the sixth minute inside a closed Santiago Bernabeu Stadium before Vinicius Jr equalised for the home team from a controversial penalty.

The controversy continued after Lamine Yamal flicked in a corner, which caught Andriy Lunin sleeping, but he reacted in time to parry the ball away from the goal frame.

Barcelona players protested that the ball had crossed the line, but the Video Assisted Referee intervened and judged that the ball had been kept out by the shot-stopper.


Why La Liga doesn't have GLT

Fans have started protesting on social media and questioned why a top-five European League like La Liga does not use goal-line technology at its stadiums.

Per Sportstar, the technology is not in use in the Spanish first division after league president, Javier Tebas, ruled the €3 million price tag as too expensive.

The technology was introduced to football after Chelsea legend, Frank Lampard's goal for England against Germany at the 2010 FIFA World Cup was not given despite crossing the line.

It was first used in 2014, four years after the incident, in South Africa. It has remained in use since then and has effectively eliminated a larger number of controversies surrounding goals.

Per FIFA, goal-line technology uses 14 high-speed cameras mounted on the stadium's catwalk or under the roof. The data from the cameras is used to create a 3D animation to visualise the decision for the fans on TV and the giant screen inside the stadium.