3 big occasions where FC Barcelona was favoured by the referee

The world of football has witnessed numerous changes taking place in favour of the betterment of one of the most loved games in the world. Latest of them being the introduction of VAR (Video Assistant Referee).

The introduction of VAR was necessary as the on-field referees might not be able to keep an eye on every event taking place on the pitch. VAR has been a spectacular feature which turned out to be very useful in the FIFA World Cup 2018.

However, talking about the referees' mistakes, FC Barcelona's name might come to mind as the Spanish giants have been apart of some of the biggest controversies in the UEFA Champions League over the past decade.

As it turned out, some of the infamous referee blunders favoured the Blaugrana and their opponents were denied a deserving chance to progress further in the competition. But as they say, the result is all that matters.

Referees are not gods, they do commit mistakes, like every one of us. However, no one would deny that over the past decade, referees have made some huge blunders in favor of the Spanish giants.

Let's take a look.

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#3 Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona - UCL semi-finals 2011

It was intense

Often regarded as one of the most heated football matches in the world, El Clasico has always been a subject of heated moments, never-ending rivalry, hot debates and plenty of controversies.

Just a week after beating their arch-rivals, FC Barcelona in the Copa Del Rey final, Real Madrid had a semi-final clash with their eternal rivals.

Jose Mourinho's side marched into the match having a rock-solid defense. However, following a Dani Alves dive, Los Blancos's rigid center-back Pepe was shown a straight red card.

Replays showed that Pepe did not make any contact with the Brazilian fullback. Making things even uglier, the referee sent off Jose Mourinho for protesting against the decision. FC Barcelona won the first leg with a man advantage over their rivals.

Real Madrid managed a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou in the second leg. Higuain's goal was ruled-off controversially in the second leg.

Barcelona progressed to the final and went on to win the UCL title.

#2 FC Barcelona vs Chelsea - UCL Semi-final 2009

The UCL semi-final contested between English giants Chelsea FC and Barcelona stands as one of the most controversial matches ever played in the history of football.

It was the much awaited match of the season as the two European giants were going to lock horns on the biggest stage of all.

Chelsea managed to return with a 0-0 scoreline form the Camp Nou. Michael Essien gave a perfect start to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge as they took a 1-0 early lead against the mighty Barcelona.

During the match, the referee denied at least four legitimate penalty appeals from Chelsea. It turned out to be the most controversial match in UCL history.

However later, the referee admitted that his decisions cost Chelsea an opportunity for the UCL final, and insisted that, "You can't remember my career just for that game."

#1 FC Barcelona vs PSG - UCL Round of 16, 2017

Paris Saint Germain shocked everyone with a 4-0 win over FC Barcelona in the first leg of the UCL knockout stages. There was almost an impossible task ahead of the Spanish giants as they had to overturn a four-goal deficit to proceed.

Barcelona smashed PSG with a 6-1 scoreline in the second leg which happened to be the result of numerous errors committed by the match referee.

Following a wrongly awarded penalty to Barcelona, PSG was denied a clear penalty when Di Maria was brought down in the box. Mascherano later admitted that it was a penalty.

The tie looked like going in PSG's way as Edison Cavani scored an away goal. But Luis Suarez dived in the dying minutes of the game to earn another undeserved penalty.

Neymar converted the penalty, and Roberto scored the last goal of the game, turning the scoreline into a 6-1 aggregate win for La Blaugrana.

UEFA demoted the match-referee for his blunders which favoured Barcelona.