“It's the biggest scandal in the history of this sport”: the futsal world champion coach with Argentina was furious after a controversial penalty shootout

The final of the Spanish Futsal Cup was shrouded in a controversial definition in the penalty shootout. After matching 3-3 in regular time, Pozo Murcia and Barcelona Fútbol Club were the protagonists of a heads-up that will be remembered by lovers of this discipline.

When it seemed that the team led by Argentine coach Diego Giustozzi was going to win the title, a key decision by the referees changed the fate of the final and it was the Blaugranas who ended up celebrating the title of the most important league in world futsal.

After an intense match, in which both teams did not make a difference, the duel that was played at the Olivo Arena in the province of Jaén, near Andalusia, El Pozo came with the advantage of the last shot of the penalties. This is how Juanjo, the goalkeeper of the Murcia team, held back the shot of Brazilian Pito. Then, the players of the winning team raced to celebrate with the hero of the night, until the referees chose to review the play in the VAR.

After several seconds, the short list invalidated the penalty because it considered that, at the time of the culé player's shot, the goalkeeper of the Pozo was not with his feet on the goal line. The decision of the members generated the repudiation of the whole of Murcia and the penalty shootout continued. Finally, Pito scored for Barcelona and equalized the actions, which went on to the round of one shot per side until it was the culés who won the definition by 7-6.

Once the match was over, the one who aimed against the judges' resolution was Giustozzi, the Argentine coach who became world champion with the Argentine national team at the 2016 World Cup in Colombia and who then left the national team to lead in European futsal.

“After what happened in the batch you can't evaluate something that didn't happen sportingly. It is the biggest scandal in the history of this sport, from now on this sport will not be the same again,” commented the coach of El Pozo Murcia.

“As a foreigner I always envied this League, it was the best league in the world and many years of history were squandered. A club has been disrespected for more than 30 years, it does not need a football club. It's the biggest frustration moment of my career. I got here wrong, thinking that winning was easy and I had to learn, but always with dignity, being true to my values. Today's beats sports. Today any limit was exceeded and it is surely the worst defeat of my career and it will hardly be exceeded”, added Giustozzi.

It should be noted that this review situation in the VAR was not the only one in the batch. After a couple of executions, the referees charged a new overtaking, this time the Barça goalkeeper, but in the reiteration, he again contained the shot of player Mati Rosa from the Murcia team.

“If Barça wins me, I congratulate him, but this goes beyond all limits. For me it was a legal stop. Needless to say what happened, everyone has seen it,” added in his analysis the Argentine coach, who at the same time disengaged the Catalans from the decision of the referees. “Although I'm going to bite my tongue, but I do have to say that Barça is oblivious to this situation and has nothing to do with it.”

For his part, the Barcelona coach celebrated the use of video refereeing in the final. “I think if justice is done, it's okay. When I watch the video, I'll be able to rate it. What happened is that we have reached penalties, the coaches can ask for the review and we have done it. Then, if you want to take things out of context, I can't say more,” said Velasco.

After beating Jimbee Cartagena 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and doing the same against Movistar Inter in the semifinals (6-4), the culés were left with a controversial win for one of the most important competitions in world futsal.

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