Sevilla demand LaLiga's raw footage after Güler's elbow got no close-up replay

By the Data Desk · Published 21 OCT 05:40

First reported by Sevilla FC statement, via EFE (Infobae)

Arda Güler's elbow on Peque Fernández reached Sevilla fans only in a wide shot, while Kylian Mbappé's penalty was replayed from several angles. On Tuesday Sevilla turned that into a formal complaint to LaLiga's Competitions Department, signed by president José María del Nido Carrasco, asking for the raw footage of four incidents from Sunday's 4-1 defeat at the Bernabéu and for "depuración de responsabilidades", an inquiry into who decided what.

• The four incidents: a possible Cucurella penalty on Peque, Güler's elbow on Peque, a Konaté foul on Robbie Ure before Madrid's 2-0, and the Mbappé penalty that, Sevilla say, got every angle.
• Sevilla want the production plan, the cameras used, the names of those who made the calls, and every original image of the four plays. Del Nido also met referees' chief Fran Soto: "evidentes puntos de vista divergentes".
• LaLiga's head of match production, Sergio Carranza, told COPE: "No hay nada que intentemos ocultar", there is nothing we try to hide. Barcelona v Real Madrid is on Sunday.

Sevilla's statement, published on the club's website and carried by EFE, calls the coverage "desigual e insuficiente", unequal and not enough. The club says three of the plays were left out of LaLiga's official highlights, even though Movistar Plus+ and DAZN later showed images of them. It wants LaLiga to make public "los protocolos y márgenes de discrecionalidad" that govern how a match is produced.

LaLiga's version came first, on COPE's El Partidazo around midnight on Monday. Carranza said the Bernabéu had 26 cameras and that most close-up cameras were pointed elsewhere when Güler and Peque clashed, because "el balón está a 30 metros, por lo menos, de la acción polémica": the ball was at least 30 metres away. "No tenemos una cámara que siga a cada jugador, porque sería una cosa inviable", he added. LaLiga does not have a camera on every player.

On the second play, the tangle before Madrid's 2-0, he went further. A replay "se podía haber valorado", it could have been considered, but "se decidió no darla": the crew in the mobile unit chose to stay with the live action, which ended in a goal. He insisted the VAR receives every camera feed and that the crew works without pressure: "allí todo el mundo deja la bufanda afuera y va a trabajar", everyone leaves their scarf at the door.

The result does not change: Real Madrid won 4-1 with goals from Güler, Mbappé twice and Yan Diomande, and Sevilla are sixth with 14 points after nine games. What happens next: LaLiga has not answered the complaint in public yet. Real Madrid host RB Leipzig tonight at 19:00 UTC, the Clásico at Camp Nou is on Sunday at 20:00 UTC, and Sevilla host Osasuna on Monday 26 October at 20:00 UTC.