{"id":920,"date":"2025-09-01T19:01:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T11:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=920"},"modified":"2025-09-01T19:01:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T11:01:21","slug":"while-lamine-and-flick-spoke-de-jong-slammed-la-ligas-var-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/01\/while-lamine-and-flick-spoke-de-jong-slammed-la-ligas-var-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"While Lamine and Flick spoke, De Jong slammed La Liga&#8217;s VAR issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"609\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-922\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1.png 1000w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-1-768x468.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While Lamine Yamal lamented a lack of intensity and Hansi Flick offered a guarded critique, it was Frenkie De Jong who ignited a post-match storm, unleashing a scathing attack on the league&#8217;s VAR chaos: &#8220;It&#8217;s not a serious league.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barcelona&#8217;s teenage sensation, Lamine Yamal, whose brilliant strike had offered a fleeting glimpse of victory, cut a frustrated figure after Sunday&#8217;s deflating draw against Rayo Vallecano. The prodigious forward openly admitted his side had &#8216;lacked intensity&#8217; \u2013 a critical flaw they &#8216;must learn&#8217; to rectify in upcoming clashes. Despite a valiant, point-saving display from their goalkeeper Joan Garc\u00eda, Barcelona could only muster a 1-1 stalemate in Vallecas. Rayo, initially stunned by Yamal&#8217;s opener, rallied fiercely in the second half, with Fran P\u00e9rez clinically seizing an equaliser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Ultimately, it&#8217;s a fiercely challenging away fixture, but our intensity simply wasn&#8217;t there,&#8221; Lamine Yamal told &#8216;DAZN&#8217;. &#8220;We must learn from this, recharge during the international break, and return with the same fire we showed last year, ready to clinch every possible win.&#8221; Yamal also exuded self-assurance regarding future responsibilities from the spot: &#8220;If the confidence is placed in me, I&#8217;m ready to step up and take them.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The young Barcelona star also pointed to a glaring defensive lapse that gifted Rayo their equaliser. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t communicate effectively,&#8221; he revealed. &#8220;They made a substitution, and nobody called out that a player was left isolated. We absolutely must learn from these kinds of errors.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2-1024x683.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-923\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2-1536x1024.png 1536w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image-2.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>De Jong slams La Liga while Flick gives guarded response<br>Joining them in the post-match debrief were coach Hansi Flick and midfielder Frenkie De Jong. Flick, ever the pragmatist, offered a remarkably restrained assessment. &#8220;We committed far too many errors; we are capable of playing much better,&#8221; he admitted. &#8220;We had opportunities to snatch a second goal, and Rayo played fantastically. Frankly, I&#8217;m unhappy with my team&#8217;s performance today; we gave away possession too frequently. As for the VAR situation, if all teams face similar circumstances, it&#8217;s certainly peculiar. Let them resolve it \u2013 that&#8217;s not my responsibility.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We simply must perform at a higher level,&#8221; Flick reiterated. &#8220;Rayo are an incredibly intense team; we needed to exert far greater control over the game. Joan Garc\u00eda, their goalkeeper, was truly exceptional today, pulling off some stunning saves. I&#8217;ve already spoken to the players; this was the last opportunity to impress upon them the need for improvement before they depart for international duty.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it was the Dutchman, Frenkie De Jong, who truly unleashed a torrent of frustration when quizzed about the officiating controversy surrounding VAR. &#8220;Honestly, I don&#8217;t even know if it was a penalty or not,&#8221; he began, his voice laced with disbelief. &#8220;I heard something, but it&#8217;s an absolute pain in the arse when VAR simply fails to function. Worse still, it works one minute, then inexplicably stops the next. That, quite simply, is not the hallmark of a serious league. It&#8217;s utterly baffling.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While Lamine Yamal lamented a lack of intensity and Hansi Flick offered a guarded critique, it was Frenkie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-x"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":924,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions\/924"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}