“What is VAR for?”

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick was outraged that his team did not receive a penalty as they lost 2-0 to Atlético Madrid in the Champions League.

Defender Pau Cubarsi was sent off in the 44th minute for tripping Giuliano Simeone, and Julián Álvarez scored a good free kick to put Atlético ahead.

Barca were excellent with 10 men and should have equalized before Alexander Sorloth volleyed a second.

And Flick felt his team should have had a penalty when Atlético defender Marc Pubill awkwardly collected the ball as goalkeeper Juan Musso passed it to him.

Instead, the referee allowed the goal kick to be retaken.

“I don’t know why VAR didn’t intervene,” Flick said.

“The referee is German and I think he is incredible. We all make mistakes, but what is VAR for?

“I can’t understand it. It should have been a penalty, a second yellow card and a red card. This is unacceptable.”

Barcelona tried to recover after the break, but struggled to break down Atlético, who stuck rigidly to their disciplined game plan. The visitors doubled their lead in the 70th minute, when Matteo Ruggeri combined with substitute Sorloth to finish effectively.

Atlético comfortably lived out the final minutes to take a commanding lead in the second leg. It was his first victory at the Camp Nou in 20 years and his first there under Diego Simeone.

“Of course we lost 0-2, but we had very good chances and they played very well,” Flick said. “We are not going to give up.

“We believe in ourselves because we played very well in the second half with one less player. They also played very well, they have quality up front. The truth is that it was not easy to defend them, but we had a chance to win this tie.”