It was Leodán's fault: Tello, the VAR, the ruminants of football and the injustices that also reached the Club World Cup

VAR came to football to bring justice. That's what those who brought VAR say and repeat ad nauseam. And yes. Maybe. But it also came to fuel controversy . And to expose those who, in good faith—because there are others too—try to put on a good show at a football match.

The point is that referees, the eternal villains of movies that last 90 minutes (plus extra time), can't make mistakes. Someone tells them what happened after watching a play in slow motion and super slow motion over and over again. They watch the sequence frame by frame. They're ruminants of football. And they keep making mistakes .

They're actually colleagues. They should be helping them. But all they're doing is exposing the on-field umpire who made the decision in a millisecond . All with 22 guys yelling at him from close range, another 20 complaining furiously from the benches, and thousands more venting their frustrations from the stands and articulating conspiracy theories that don't last a round of coherence.

What's all this about? There are plenty of examples. Benfica's goal difference in Boca's Club World Cup debut came from a penalty that the referee didn't even notice. It was impossible to watch—also inconceivable—how Palacios slept and how Otamendi took advantage of the distraction to become a kind of punching ball for the Chilean's lower body and fall victim to an infraction that years ago no one would have even called for. But VAR exists. And Mexican César Arturo Ramos Palazuelos had no choice but to surrender to the evidence .

It happened to Facundo Tello this Wednesday in Real Madrid's 1-1 draw with Al Hilal . The Argentine referee was forced to award a penalty for Mohammed Al-Qahtani's slap on Fran García because Uruguayan Leodán González called him to flag the foul from the comfort of the VAR . The Saudi Arabian player made a move to cover the ball that was coming out of the penalty area! and had the misfortune of hitting his opponent. The crowd, despite the rules, was screaming for "go on, go on!" But the intercom sounded, and the Argentine referee, after watching the replay on the pitchside monitor, had no choice but to flag the foul.

THE INFRACTION THAT ENDED IN A PENALTY FOR REAL MADRID AT THE END! Tello called a foul by Al-Qahtani against Fran García after reviewing the play in the VAR.

Was it a foul? #ClubWorldCupInDSPORTS | #FIFACWC pic.twitter.com/rpBqtk0Q8L

— DSPORTS (@DSports) June 18, 2025

The problem is that a short while earlier , Tello had failed to award a foul on a similar play in the Real Madrid box . There, although it may sound unsympathetic to defend a referee, the fault wasn't the Argentine referee's. It was Leodán's—it sounds like the title of a Mario Vargas Llosa novel—because Leodán was guilty of a double standard.

No one would have noticed if there were people in Riyadh upset with the Argentine referee's performance. But what would have happened if Tello had ignored the advice of his IT counterpart minutes before the end of the match in Miami? At the very least, a beach bar would have fallen on him . Not to mention the headlines of the sports papers in the Spanish capital. It was the debut and farewell for the referee from Bahía Blanca at the Club World Cup. Luckily, Bono appeared and did justice by stopping Valverde's shot.

90+1' THIS IS INSANE! Penalty to @realmadrid , Valverde from the spot and Bono SAVES IT! We are still level in Miami! 😮

Watch the @FIFACWC | June 14 - July 13 | Every Game | Free | https://t.co/i0K4eUtwwb | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #RMAHIL pic.twitter.com/CpwOek3yWy

— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 18, 2025

Does technology help? Of course. Anything that facilitates precision is welcome . The issue, a recurring theme, is that VAR is managed by humans, and the technology eventually becomes obsolete . Because the problem is older than the dinosaur tamer—if they ever existed (NOT): humans make mistakes, and common sense is the least common of the senses—pardon the double commonplace. Whether running with a whistle in your mouth—and now with a camera in your ear—or sitting in front of multiple screens and endless replays. Perhaps it's necessary to understand that there's nothing wrong with making mistakes. We learn from mistakes. What we don't learn from is injustice.