CTA Backs Valles on Mbappé's Missed Penalty Against Betis

One foot on the ground, one in the air, and a controversy that refuses to die down. The penalty missed by Kylian Mbappé against Betis is still generating headlines, even though the body that oversees referees' work has already closed the book on the matter, at least on the technical side.

The Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) confirmed there were no grounds to retake the spot kick that Álvaro Valles saved from Mbappé in last weekend's La Liga match. The decision by referee Hernández Hernández and the VAR, heavily criticized at the time, was fully backed by the committee.

So why all the fuss over a play that looked straightforward? It all comes down to Marc Bartra, who beat everyone else to the rebound and cleared the ball out for a corner. The rule is clear: no player may enter the box before the shot is taken, unless he is "in the air" at that moment, something determined by projecting where his feet would land if they were touching the ground. That was the crux of the whole issue.

The CTA's Explanation

The committee broke down the play on its program "Tiempo de Revisión," aired this Tuesday by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, and the explanation was detailed: Bartra had one foot on the ground and the other lifted off at the moment of the shot. That distinction changes everything, because for a player to be considered "in the air," his entire body must be off the ground, not just one foot.

The committee summed it up this way: "At the moment Mbappé takes the shot, Bartra has one foot in the air and the other in contact with the ground. If a player is 'in the air' when a penalty is taken, his position is determined by the projected position of his feet as if they were touching the ground. But 'in the air' only applies when the entire body is off the ground. And Bartra is not in the air because he has one foot in contact with the ground. And that foot is not inside the penalty area."

With that grounded foot outside the box, there was simply no infraction. That is why neither the referee nor the VAR saw any need to stop play or order a retake, no matter how much doubt the replays stirred up in the stands and on social media.

Mourinho's "Why"

The CTA's explanation came after José Mourinho demanded clarity on the play during his press conference ahead of Real Madrid's clash with Inter. The Portuguese coach, true to form, once again reached for his now-famous "why" to question the video review's work.

If the VAR didn't have it retaken out of ignorance, he needs to go home and stop doing VAR. If it's because he didn't want to, that's even worse. If they didn't know the rule, why didn't they call the referee over to look at the monitor? It's strange. I want to lean toward honesty and think he simply didn't know the ruleJosé Mourinho

With the CTA's official backing of the officiating, the controversy is technically closed, though Mourinho's comments make clear that debate over VAR's criteria remains very much alive in La Liga's dugouts.