VAR Chiefs Defend Real Madrid Equaliser, Say Vinicius–Pena Clash Was “Accidental” in Elche Draw

Real Madrid’s late leveller at Elche has kicked up another storm, but Spain’s VAR bosses insist there was nothing in the tangle between Vinicius Jr and goalkeeper Iñaki Peña. Eduardo Prieto Iglesias, Spain’s head of video refereeing, and match VAR Mario Melero López both agreed the collision was accidental and nowhere near enough to scrub Jude Bellingham’s 2–2 strike.

The controversy didn’t stop at the second goal either. Elche fumed over a possible handball by Bellingham in the build up to Huijsen’s earlier finish, then raged even louder when Peña ended up with a bloodied nose after Vinicius’s boot clipped him right before Madrid bagged the equaliser. Home fans was adamant it had to be a foul. VAR thought otherwise.

Speaking to El Chiringuito, Prieto Iglesias said the contact was simply part of the challenge, adding that Vinicius made “no additional gesture” that would’ve signalled a deliberate attempt to catch the keeper. “If the forward had made an extra movement to strike the goalkeeper, we’d be talking about something else,” he explained. “But this was accidental, fortuitous. No clear and obvious error.”

Crucially, the VOR room never asked on pitch referee Francisco Javier Hernández Maeso to take another look. From Las Rozas, Prieto Iglesias doubled down on the stance that VAR is meant to fix only the “obvious, clear and manifest” mistakes and this one, in his view, just didn’t fit the bill.

Melero López, who shared VAR duties with Juan Luis Pulido Santana, backed the assessment. He revealed they also checked whether the ball crossed the line earlier in the move, it hadn’t before turning attention to the coming together. “Yes, there was contact,” he said, “but we saw it as accidental, a normal football action, nothing reckless or imprudent. A collision inherent in the game, which then led to the goal.”

Madrid march on with another late rescue job, while Elche is left boiling over decisions they felt swung the whole night. With the title race tight and tempers even tighter, expect the VAR debate to rumble on long after this one.