Barcelona stay perfect as Lamine Yamal penalty decision sparks debate
Barcelona extended their perfect start to the La Liga season with a 4-2 victory at Levante, making it five wins from five under Hansi Flick and preserving their position at the summit. The Catalan side have beaten every opponent they have faced so far, while their scoring output represents one of the club’s strongest openings to a campaign in decades.
The match became more uncomfortable for Barcelona late on, but their attacking efficiency again proved decisive. Lamine Yamal scored twice, including a disputed second-half penalty, to continue an exceptional individual start to the season.
Yamal penalty prompts widespread debate
The key second-half decision came when referee Jon Ander Gonzalez Cuesta awarded Barcelona a penalty after an incident involving Aissa Mandi and Yamal. Mandi fell as the ball ran through, appeared to make contact with it using his hand, and then brought down the Barcelona forward.
Yamal converted emphatically, sending his effort into the top-left corner. However, the spot-kick drew strong criticism from several Spanish broadcasters and former refereeing voices.
Paco Gonzalez said he could see why the referee had initially given the decision, particularly because Yamal would otherwise have been through on goal. Nevertheless, he argued that it should not have stood, saying: “I don’t think it is a penalty, although I understand why he gave it. Without that handball, he is clean through on goal.”
Gonzalez’s view was that the supposed handball was insufficiently clear to justify a foul and that Mandi’s later contact with Yamal followed naturally from the incident rather than constituting a separate offence.
Pedro Martin also disputed the call, arguing that Mandi had not moved his arm to gain an advantage. He said the defender’s hand was in a natural position as he fell, rather than being deliberately placed to stop the ball.
Former referee Iturralde Gonzalez was even more direct in his assessment. He dismissed both the handball and the later contact, stating: “The first handball is nothing, and the second is a kick, but it is nothing as well. That can never be a penalty in a million years.”
Three braces in five league matches
Whatever the arguments around the penalty, Yamal’s two-goal display added another landmark to his season. The teenager has now recorded three braces in Barcelona’s opening five La Liga fixtures.
That places him alongside Lionel Messi as the only players to achieve that mark in the first five matches of a Spanish top-flight season during the 21st century. Messi previously did so in 2012/13.
Barcelona’s fifth successive win has reinforced their early authority in the title race, while Yamal’s output has made him an increasingly central figure in Flick’s new-look side.
