Athletic Club vs Real Sociedad penalty controversy

The CTA says the Basque derby penalty that helped decide Athletic Club's 2-1 win over Real Sociedad at San Mamés was judged in real time with a one to two frame mismatch in the connected-ball system. The committee later said the discrepancy between the ball signal and the VAR video made the review misread Jon Aramburu's touch in the 11th round of LaLiga EA Sports.

The CTA's explanation

The technical committee's line is that the penalty was validated because the information on the screen and the ball data were not aligned. In its explanation, the CTA said the most likely problem was a slight synchronization delay of approximately one or two frames between the ball signal and the VAR video.

It added that when the signal was resynchronized with the video, subtracting that delay, the signal matched what was seen on screen. The CTA said the most prominent peak then coincided with the Real Sociedad player reaching the ball.

That leaves Álex Berenguer's spot kick, scored in first-half stoppage time, as the decisive moment in a 2-1 derby that had already swung twice. Athletic Club vs Real Sociedad was level after Luka Sučić's equaliser, but Berenguer's penalty before half-time settled it.

Real Sociedad's complaint

Real Sociedad were never going to accept that explanation quietly. Their official report called it an unfair defeat and said the penalty did not exist.

Jon Mikel Aramburu went further, saying even Nico Williams told him it was not a penalty. Mikel Oyarzabal also said the images showed a touch even though VAR confirmed the spot kick.

The important point is that the CTA and Real Sociedad are arguing from different angles. The committee is pointing to a frame-level synchronization problem in the review process, while the club is arguing that the on-field decision changed the match unfairly.

What will keep this alive is the gap between those positions, not the final score alone. Athletic won 2-1, Berenguer scored at 45+2, and the controversy now sits on the review itself rather than on the result.