Raphinha ridicules incredible semi-automated offside error against Robert Lewandowski in Barcelona's defeat to Real Sociedad with hilarious clown shoes meme

The Blaugrana thought that they had done enough to earn at least a point when facing Real Sociedad in La Liga. Sheraldo Becker opened the scoring in that contest, but Lewandowski believed that he had grabbed an equaliser.

To the surprise of many, the semi-automatic offside technology (SAOT) that is used in La Liga pulled the Polish striker up for offside. Despite replays of the incident - which were paused as the ball was played - suggesting that the boot of Sociedad defender Nayef Aguerd was keeping Lewandowski onside, the effort was disallowed.

Barca captain Raphinha has poked fun at that bemusing decision, which cost Hansi Flick’s side dear as they slipped to a narrow 1-0 defeat. The Brazil international winger has posted an image of social media showing the VAR ruling and a pair of clown shoes, which he jokes Lewandowski must have been wearing for the offside technology to fail.

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Despite the controversy that has been sparked, the Technical Arbitration Committe maintain that the correct call was made, with 10-12 cameras being used to track the ball’s movement and up to 29 data points of each player at up to 50 times per second – meaning that exact positions of bodies and feet can be mapped.