LPF Releases VAR Audio Explaining the Two Red Cards in the Superclásico

The Liga Profesional de Fútbol decided to pull back the curtain on the VAR process, releasing the actual audio that shows how the two red cards that defined the Superclásico came about. Boca beat River 1-0 in the 2026 Torneo Clausura, but the match was shaped by the ejections of Lucas Martínez Quarta and Gonzalo Montiel, and on Sunday the LPF published the conversations between referee Nicolás Ramírez and the VAR booth, staffed by Silvio Trucco and his assistant Gastón Suárez.

The first controversy came early, in the 9th minute. Ramírez saw a challenge on Miguel Merentiel and, in the heat of the moment, waved it away as a "normal play." Nothing more. But something didn't sit right in the booth, and the VAR team asked to review a possible DOGSO, meaning whether the foul had denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. Trucco broke down the play with surgical precision: "The ball is going to him, he's got the distance, he's got the speed, he's got control of it."

With such an interpretive call on the table, there was no choice but to send Ramírez to the monitor. There, watching the replay, the referee realized what he had missed on the field: "That's what I don't see out on the pitch, I don't see the defender's arms." After reviewing the sequence closely, he completely reversed his original call.

I see that the defender commits a foul, holding him back on a clear, obvious goal-scoring opportunity. I'm going to report the following, I'm going to change my initial decision. It will be a direct free kick for the home side and a red card for the away player for persistent holding and denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunityNicolás Ramírez

And just like that, Martínez Quarta was sent off, with the match barely underway.

The stomp on Blanco and Montiel's frustration

The second ejection came with a different flavor. In the 34th minute of the second half, Ramírez sent off Montiel for a studs-up challenge on Lautaro Blanco's ankle. This time the initial call raised no doubts inside the booth: Suárez backed it instantly with a blunt "Good one, Nico, for me that's a perfect red. He's going for the ankle." Trucco, more cautious, asked for more detail before confirming anything: "Give me the point of contact and give me the torsion, with the angle from behind." As they reviewed the footage frame by frame, Suárez ran through the elements supporting the ejection out loud: "High impetuosity, high force, high intensity." Trucco ultimately agreed after his own look at the play: "There's intensity, the contact is on the soft part of the ankle with the studs, and there's a twist of the ankle, it's clear." The red card stood.

Montiel didn't hold back after the match. He went looking for explanations from the referee right away, and later, in the mixed zone, he ran through everything he felt had gone against River during the Superclásico.

The play on Blanco is the same as mine, Blanco gets a yellow and I get sent off. There were two clear penalties on Otamendi. Paredes already had a yellow, he committed a yellow-card foul when he slid in and didn't get booked. Di Lollo, who already had a yellow, committed the penalty on Otamendi and that was another yellow. Alan Velasco already had a yellow, he went down on a play, that was a yellow tooGonzalo Montiel

With the audio now public, fans can draw their own conclusions about whether Ramírez's decisions lived up to the standard a match as sensitive as the Superclásico demands.