According to Goal, Rivaldo has told Betfair that Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu is using talk of bias with VAR to ‘distract’ the media from his side’s current issues.
Before La Liga restarted Barcelona held a four-point lead at the top of the table, the Blaugrana have been poor since football resumed and now find themselves a point behind their heated rivals.
It’s actually Zinedine Zidane’s side that can now build a four-point lead, should they win their game in hand vs Deportivo Alaves.
Rivaldo’s damning assessment of the club and Bartomeu in particular come just days after the chief accused VAR of bias, hinting that it helps rivals Real Madrid more.
Here’s what Rivaldo had to say on the Catalan outfit’s current woes:
“Sometimes you have the right to feel upset about refereeing or VAR decisions but I do not agree with Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu’s claims that there is a bias towards Madrid.”
“Bartomeu is simply trying to distract the media from his club’s problems.”
“Barcelona are still fighting for the Liga title, and they’re still in the Champions League, but this is not a good moment for the club.”
“Bartomeu is trying to use stuff like VAR to justify himself to the fans and pretend that his club’s difficulties aren’t the fault of himself, the players or the manager.”
“In my opinion, Barca’s problem isn’t VAR or any refereeing decisions, their main problem is the quality of their football that needs to improve and become again that style of play that everybody loves to see around the world.
“The team was leading La Liga before the lockdown and now is four points behind Madrid, so you can’t say VAR is the main reason for that, especially when the team is not playing well.”
Despite Barcelona bouncing back with two wins after a couple of draws, the Catalan outfit have now left matters outside of their hands – they need Los Blancos to slip up to regain pole position in the title race.
Much has been made of the controversy going on behind-the-scenes at Barcelona and Rivaldo clearly believes that Bartomeu is using VAR as an agenda to ‘justify’ himself to the club’s supporters, whilst also deflecting over the poor decisions the side’s hierarchy have made in recent years.