European football’s governing body has already rejected one of Barça’s appeals regarding the quarter-final match against Atlético.
Published April 16, 2026
Barcelona lodged another complaint with UEFA this week after their appeal over the handball incident in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final defeat to Atletico Madrid was rejected.
The Spanish club said in a statement on Thursday that several refereeing decisions in both matches, which Atlético won 3-2 on aggregate, “resulted from the incorrect application of the rules and the lack of proper intervention by the VAR system in clearly significant incidents and were not in accordance with the laws of the game.”
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The Catalan club, who finished both matches with 10 men following the sending offs of Pau Kvarsi and Eric Garcia, believe they were on the wrong track as a result of several controversial decisions, including two potential penalty situations that did not trigger VAR intervention.
“The accumulation of these mistakes had a direct impact on the flow of the match and the final result of the draw, causing significant damage to the club both sportingly and financially,” added the reigning Spanish champions.
Barcelona said the club had “reiterated the request it had previously made to UEFA” and offered to “cooperate with the organization with the aim of improving the refereeing system to ensure a stricter, fairer and more transparent application” of the rules.
UEFA on Tuesday dismissed as “unacceptable” the five-time Champions League winner’s initial complaint about handball during a goal-kick by Atlético defender Marc Poubil in the 2-0 first-leg win.
