Positive reaction to VAR's LaLiga Santander debut

LaLiga Santander has kicked off a historic season with the implementation of the VAR (video assistant referee) system for the first time in the competition's history. After months of hard work by the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga, the best competition in the world is now benefiting from the video assistant referee model.

VAR carried out a total of 364 silent checks over the first three matchdays (a total of 29 games, after Rayo Vallecano v Athletic Club was postponed), which equates to an average of 12.55 per match.

Decisions relating to only ten (2.8%) of the 364 silent checks by the VAR were subsequently reversed, having been deemed clear and obvious errors. If we divide the number of fixtures (29) by the number of checks (10), it shows that VAR intervenes directly once in just under every three matches (2.9) on average.

The guidelines for the video assistant referee system state that it must be limited to checking goals, penalty decisions, straight red cards and cases of mistaken identity, only if a clear error has been made or if a serious incident/offence has been missed.

In terms of VAR in LaLiga Santander so far, it has been divided into seven goal checks, two for penalties and one case of mistaken identity. Five of the seven goal checks were down to offside rulings, with the remaining two linked to whether the goal should stand or not and a foul in the build-up.