FC Barcelona have taken their frustration beyond the pitch and into the corridors of UEFA, lodging an official complaint on Thursday over the refereeing in their 2-0 home defeat to Atlético Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

The controversy centres on a second-half incident when Barcelona believed they should have been awarded a penalty. The situation arose after Atlético goalkeeper Juan Musso appeared to have restarted play from a goal kick, only for defender Marc Pubill to handle the ball inside the six-yard box as play continued.

Referee István Kovács allowed play to continue, and the VAR officials did not intervene or send the referee to the monitor, a decision that sparked strong protests from the Barcelona bench.

In an official statement, Barcelona confirmed they had submitted a formal complaint to UEFA, focusing on the disputed incident in the 54th minute.

The club argued that after play was correctly restarted, an opposition player handled the ball in the penalty area without a spot-kick being awarded, describing it as a major officiating error compounded by the lack of VAR intervention.

Barcelona have also requested a full review of the incident, access to referee communications, and, if appropriate, formal acknowledgement of the mistake along with possible corrective measures from UEFA.

Interpretations of similar incidents have differed across recent European matches.

In the Champions League quarter-finals in April 2024, a penalty was not awarded to FC Bayern Munich after Arsenal FC defender Gabriel Magalhães appeared to handle the ball following a restart by goalkeeper David Raya, with the referee opting to let play continue.

However, later in 2024, a contrasting decision saw VAR intervene to award a penalty to Club Brugge KV in a similar situation involving Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and defender Tyrone Mings, highlighting the inconsistency in how such incidents have been interpreted.