Javier Tebas justifies La Liga's lack of goal-line technology following El Clasico "ghost goal"

The fallout from Sunday’s El Clasico has continued over the course of this week, with the main talking point still being Lamine Yamal’s “ghost goal” during the first half of Real Madrid’s 3-2 victory over Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Catalans believe that the whole ball had crossed the line, but VAR was unable to confirm this, which meant that the on-field decision of no goal stood, much to Barcelona’s fury.

Had goal-line technology been live, it would have been able to accurately tell whether it was a goal or not. However, La Liga does not have this, which has led to strong criticism. Javier Tebas attempted to justify the league’s reasoning for not having the technology when he spoke to the media on Wednesday, as per Marca.

“It’s not perfect technology, and that’s the first of the reasons. But it’s not just that: over the course of a season, phantom goals happen on three or four occasions. The cost of it is very high for the use it has: it means investing between €5-6m for both categories to use it once, and with doubts.”

Tebas has spoken extensively in the past on financial matters in La Liga, and he is keen to avoid as much expenditure from the league as possible. It is a very risky tactic not to have goal-line technology, considering how crucial it could be to determining the fates of clubs in Spanish football’s top two divisions.