Real Madrid's 2-1 win against Ajax last night was reminiscent of so many of their previous victories while under pressure in the Champions League in recent seasons. There was, though, something different about this one – the role played by VAR.
Such was Ajax's early dominance that Madrid struggled to get out of their half in the opening 15 minutes and approaching half time, the home side thought they had the lead as Nicolas Tagliafico headed home following a corner. The stadium erupted, but after a long wait and with Real ready to kick off, it was disallowed.
Confusion reined inside the Johan Cruijff ArenA as the home fans showed their disapproval with whistles and jeers. On social media, the official Champions League account attempted to explain.
"VAR in the UCL: in the 38th minute of the Ajax v Madrid first leg, Nicolás Tagliafico’s headed goal was ruled out following a VAR review," the tweet started. "The referee identified that Tagliafico’s team-mate Dušan Tadić was in an offside position and interfering with the goalkeeper - preventing him from playing or being able to play the ball – as the header was being made. This was in line with VAR protocol and the goal was correctly overturned and a free-kick given for offside."
Tadic was offside, although only by a fraction, and he hardly looked like he was interfering. In fact, he could not really have got out of Thibaut Courtois' way. That said, if the referee thought he was interfering, then all he had to do was establish whether the player was offside. And he was. Whether such marginal offsides should be offside at all is another matter, but technically he was off.
Real went on to take the lead through Karim Benzema in the second half and after Ajax equalised through Hakim Ziyech, Los Blancos secured a late win as Marco Asensio poked home from close range after 87 minutes. And that one was controversial too as Lucas Vazquez appeared to foul Frenkie de Jong in the build-up.
For the second time in four days, VAR decisions had fallen in Madrid's favour. Two key calls in the derby against Atletico on Saturday – a penalty for Vinicius Junior which had looked outside the box and the disallowing of an Alvaro Morata goal for a highly debatable offside – helped Santiago Solari's side to a 3-1 win and in Amsterdam, the first-ever VAR ruling in the Champions League also went the way of Los Blancos.
"It was a shame," Ajax coach Erik ten Hag said afterwards. "The officials have given us different explanations. I've seen the images. Maybe we would need to see it from a different angle. I don't consider it to be offside."
For his part, Solari said: "Us coaches do not have a monitor." Although when decisions have gone against Madrid in the past, the Argentine has usually had an opportunity to see them back before talking to the media. And he complained about what he considered to be an excessively physical approach from Ajax. "They took the ball off us," he said. "Many times on the limit of the rules."
After their 2-0 defeat at home to Real Sociedad in early January in which Vinicius was denied what seemed to be a clear penalty, Real raged at VAR. "It's scandalous," Ramos said. "We don't ask for help; we ask for justice. VAR needs to be modified." And Solari said: "It needs to be applied and applied well."
Days and days of tiresome editorials followed in the Madrid media and on television debates, with Real made out as the victim in the war against VAR, while it emerged that club chief Florentino Perez had telephoned the president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, to ask for explanations.
Now, suddenly, decisions have started to go their way with VAR – first at home, now in Europe – and all of that pressure from inside the club may have had some effect. Certainly, Ramos is happy now. "I'm a big advocate of VAR," he said after the game. "Little by little, it is making football fairer."
Ajax and their fans will not necessarily agree with that sentiment, but the Dutch champions will still fancy their chances in this tie if they can produce another performance like last night's in the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu next month, although Real are now huge favourites to advance.
Ramos will play no part in the second leg. The Madrid captain was booked in the 89th minute and will be suspended for the game at the Bernabeu. Worse still, he could now also be banned for one more match after he admitted he picked up the card on purpose.
"Yes, the truth is that, looking at the result, it was something I had in mind," he said afterwards when asked about it. "It's not to underestimate the rival. But sometimes you have to make decisions and that's what I decided."
Later, as talk of a possible more lengthy ban circulated, the defender wrote on Twitter: "I want you to know that it hurts me more than anyone. I didn't force the booking."
Dani Carvajal was given a two-match ban in December 2017 for what UEFA considered a deliberate booking against APOEL and that punishment saw the right-back miss the first leg of the last 16 last season. Ramos now looks likely to be given a similar suspension and that would be even more costly because Madrid would lose their captain not only for the Ajax return, but also a potential quarter-final first leg in April.
