Lamine Yamal spent 90 minutes at Camp Nou without entering the referee’s notebook, despite committing four fouls on the night. That was one of three calls Football Insider’s ref-watch flagged in its post-match review of Barcelona’s 3-0 Champions League win over Aston Villa on Tuesday, with Italian official Davide Massa the common thread.

Yamal had already opened the scoring in the seventh minute after a loose Joao Gomes pass, per Sky Sports. The 19-year-old then kept conceding fouls through the game, Football Insider argued, without ever drawing the caution his tally warranted.

A stamp on Cubarsí before half time

The sharpest flashpoint came in the 43rd minute, when Nicolas Jackson stamped on Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsí. Jackson stayed on the pitch with only a yellow, Football Insider wrote, in an incident the outlet argued could have been dealt with by a red card under stricter enforcement.

Cubarsí was left limping after the challenge. Jackson’s booking was officially logged in first-half stoppage time, according to Vavel’s match log.

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Buendía’s high boot near García

Already carrying a yellow from earlier in the game, Emiliano Buendía raised his foot high enough to come close to Barcelona keeper Joan García’s jaw while contesting a loose ball in the 61st minute, Football Insider said. By the outlet’s reading, the challenge was reckless enough to merit either a straight red or the second yellow that would have left Villa down to ten.

Massa produced neither card. Raphinha had already put Barcelona two up by then with a deflected strike in the 52nd minute, and the Brazilian added a third in the 64th, again per Sky Sports.

Emery kept his criticism off the referee

Villa head coach Unai Emery did not single out the officiating in his post-match comments to TNT Sports, as relayed by Sky Sports.

“We made mistakes but we overcame these mistakes. Today, more or less, after the mistake we made, we were creating chances and facing them,” Emery said.

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Football Insider’s overall verdict was that Massa had been inconsistent across the three incidents, with stricter enforcement capable of changing how the match played out.

The defeat ended Aston Villa’s perfect start to the 2026-27 Champions League league phase, with Barcelona climbing to second in the standings, as Al Jazeera reported.

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