Real Madrid Stars Up in Arms Over VAR After Controversial Decision in Club World Cup Semi-Final

Real Madrid's big hitters have come out swinging against the use of VAR as the Spanish giants fell victim to a controversial decision in their Club World Cup

Real Madrid's big hitters have come out swinging against the use of VAR as the Spanish giants fell victim to a controversial decision in their Club World Cup semi-final against Al-Jazira on Wednesday night.

Luka Modric, Gareth Bale and manager Zinedine Zidane were quick to criticise the technology following a prolonged delay which led to Casemiro's first-half header ruled out after Karim Benzema was deemed to have influenced the play from an offside position. 

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Whilst the Los Blancos narrowly scraped through the clash in Abu Dhabi after overcoming a one goal deficit to win 2-1, the post-match discussion was marred by the incident with the VAR and not how the Spanish giants struggled to bypass their opponents. 

Zidane, however, was left confused by the entire situation of using VAR, from the duration of the process to the final decision, as he told MARCA: "I have very few explanations. We had to wait three or four minutes to get a decision and it wasn't pleasant.

"You have to make sure some good comes from all of this and that we try to improve it. I guess the offside was why it was disallowed. It seemed odd."

VAR screwing us over #RealMadrid we should be leading

— This Is Stan (@Scritch101) December 13, 2017

The club's manager was not the only member of the side who was bemused with the process as

Bale, who came off the bench to score the winner with his first touch, said: "I don't like it, I think football is better without it. But I'm not the one who makes the decisions."

The criticism of the video technology did not end there as the game's man of the match Modric, who had previously said that 'VAR isn't football', admitted he was still not enthralled with the process as confusion continues to wreak havoc.

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He said: "I didn't like what I said, but for me there is still confusion with VAR. In some ways it may help, but for Casemiro's goal they say it was disallowed because [Karim] Benzema was influencing another player. I don't want to get too involved in this controversy."

With La Liga set to deploy VAR at the start of next season, Modric admitted there was still uncertainty surrounding how the league will look to use it, he added: "Last time I said something that others didn't like, but it's a bit confusing for me.

No wonder Real Madrid fans and Perez are against VAR. They scored fraud goals today and VAR ruled them out. Now they're losing to a news channel lmaoooo.
LaLiga next season will be fun.

— Paris,Texas° (@Enganche19) December 13, 2017

"I don't know in what circumstances they want to impose it. In some cases it can help but it takes too long for some decisions, like today it was just a mess."

After securing a win in the Club World Cup semi-final, Real Madrid are now set to face Brazilian side Gremio in the final on Saturday - where a win would secure Los Blancos' third victory in the tournament.