Carlos Velasco Carballo, head of the Spanish referees (CTA), defended the VAR on the Spanish TV programme 'El Golazo de la Mañana'. With stats in hand, Velasco Carballo thinks that the technology has helped the league to become more even. He admitted some mistakes have been made and accepted responsibility for it.
"The VAR has intervened on 80 occasions and 77 errors have been rectified, simulation has gone down by 70%, defended the CTA president.
However, Velasco Carballo, did not hesitate to criticise himself. "If somebody is responsible for the errors that there have been in La Liga regarding the intervention of the VAR, it's me as the president. Because we urge the referees to oonly intervene when it is clear and not too often. And maybe we have done this too much and a result have not intervened in certain incidents... They have been too obedient," said Velasco Carballo.
Because Velasco Carballo thinks that the technology is working fabulously in La Liga. "In Spain, when the VAR has intervened, the final decision has been the correct one," he continued. That said, he admits that the VAR should have intervened on some other occasions. "The error is that we should have intervened in other incidents... But when the VAR acts in Spain, it's does justice", he expressed.
Velasco Carballo is more than happy with how it is working in the league. "I would say it is working very, very well, about 8 out of 10. I think it has done very well and we are proud," he said.
The idea is that the technology intervenes as often as possible. "The VAR must not intervene very often, that is the philosophy. Minimum interference, maximum benefit. The VAR must intervene as little as possible because the footballing world fears it could break the fluidity of the game. It must only intervene in very clear and very important errors," he explained.
Lastly, he explained in which cases the referee goes over to the monitor. "It is not a tool to clear up doubts, but to confirm that a clear and obvious error has been made. And the referee only goes to see the VAR when he is told to. "He cannot go to the monitor just to clear something up," he concluded.