Barcelona could demand replay of El Clasico as club chief blasts VAR over Real Madrid 'ghost goal' controversy

Seething Barcelona president Joan Laporta has let rip at Spanish officials in the wake of Sunday's 3-2 loss to Real Madrid – and hinted the club may request a replay of the world's most glamorous fixture.

Jude Bellingham's injury time winner has edged Los Blancos closer to the La Liga title, with Carlo Ancelotti's men now sitting 11 points clear of rivals Barca with seven games remaining. With the scores level at 1-1, the away side were left fuming after the officials opted not to award them a goal, despite replays suggesting Lamine Yamal's touch from an inswinging corner had beaten Madrid stopper Andriy Lunin and crossed the goal line.

Laporta, who is in the middle of his second spell as club president, has always been a vocal critic of VAR and has confirmed the Catalan giants have requested both audio and video footage from the technology on the decision not to allow Yamal's "phantom goal".

In a strongly worded statement, the 60-year-old also says that Barca are now assessing their options, including lodging an appeal to the Spanish football federation to have the game with Madrid replayed. He said: "As you well know, I have never been a great defender of VAR because I believe that, as it is applied, it takes away football’s spontaneity. But what I am in favour of is that, now that we have it, we always use to avoid errors that can lead to unfair decisions.

"We understand the difficulty faced by officials, but it is for that reason that such tools exist (like VAR) which should help the competition be fairer and not the other way around. Yesterday, there were several debatable incidents but amongst all of them there is one that is crucial and can change the result of the game.

" I am referring to the ‘phantom goal’ by