The night of horrors, between the defense and the VAR: the hot notes of Atlètic-Barça

BarcelonaWhat a first half. What a disaster. Just when Barça seemed to be on a roll, a painful defeat. Perhaps if Cubarsí's goal hadn't been disallowed, a comeback might still have been possible, but we have to believe there was an offside. But it's hard to believe. Nevertheless, we must continue to believe in this team despite the shipwreck. It's not the time to throw everything away, even though it's difficult after watching a match best forgotten.

A naked team

It's hard to keep a cool head when Barça loses like this. When almost nothing goes right. When the Barça defense resembles the actors in that movie from years ago. Monty LeafWhere a group of unemployed people tried to coordinate their movements for a striptease. In some ways, Barça resembled it: they were left exposed. That's the risk of being daring and brave. Of playing with this advanced defense: when things aren't done right, the damage is painful. But does this mean we have to change tactics? Do we have to criticize everything now? No.

The people who want to burn everything down

Now is the time to be wary of anyone trying to settle scores and claiming they knew some players wouldn't even be able to play in Rapitenca. A defeat like this hurts, and fans are free to skip dinner, swear, and straighten their hair. But beware of those who try to drag the team down, attack Hansi Flick, or proclaim that Joan Garcia, despite a very serious mistake, doesn't deserve to be at Barça. Or be cruel to Olmo, Ferran, or Casadó, who simply didn't have their day. Lamine was also absent. It can happen. Knowing this team, a defeat like this could spur them on to rediscover their best form when the injured players return. We need to have faith in a team that had won 17 of their last 18 matches. The grades, always, come at the end of the season.

What a disgrace, VAR

This isn't the time to burn anything. And if something needs to be metaphorically burned, let it be VAR. It's a disgrace that the game was stopped for seven minutes to analyze whether Cubarsí's goal was offside or not. Things need to be sped up; it's not normal to have the players cooling down while Simeone was praying for divine intervention, because he knew it might have been a goal. In the end, they said he was offside by... a centimeter? By the tip of a boot? You're supposed to believe he was offside. And it's hard to believe because in offside situations like this, goals not being allowed is a joke. It's hard to believe in this VAR, seeing how it also acted in the play that resulted in Eric's red card, where it seemed Araujo could have reached it. A play where a red card can be shown, true. But if you add that to the first incident, it drives you crazy.

Calm down, there's still time in the season

Neither the countless fouls Fermín suffered nor the goal that tarnished Cubarsí's reputation can justify anything. Barça deserved to lose, plain and simple. Atlético broke down the Catalan defense, they were tenacious, and they found a new hero in Lookman. Let them celebrate. They deserved to win in a match where poor Raya Yuste chose the worst possible day to debut as interim president, if you'll allow yourself a bit of humor. We'll take away the memory of a second half in which Barça improved slightly. What remains is the frustration of imagining what would have happened if Cubarsí's goal hadn't been disallowed, both in the second half and in the return leg. Perhaps the Cup is lost, but not the season.