La Liga Intends to Use Video Technology for 2018-19 Season, Per Juan Luis Larrea

Juan Luis Larrea, the president of the Spanish football federation, has confirmed La Liga will seek to introduce a video assistant referee (VAR) system into their matches next season. 

Speaking about the decision on Cadena SER (h/t Sky Sports), Larrea insisted football is moving into a different age and the Spanish top flight will move forward in line with that.

"For next season," he said when quizzed about the potential implementation of VAR. "That is our intention. Technology is now coming into football and you have to accept it."

Larrea went on to add the technology will undergo rigorous testing before La Liga begins to use the system in full, with 70 matches set to be used as trials. 

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As things stand, La Liga is the only major European league not to use goal-line technology. Per Joe Wright of Goal, the division's president, Javier Tebas, said in the summer of 2016 it had declined the chance to tap into the equipment as "it costs a lot of money to have it."

Should La Liga have VAR in place for the 2018-19 season it'd be following on from Serie A. The Italian top flight introduced the video refereeing system at the beginning of the current campaign.

As noted in the report, in Serie A a referee can review footage to alter a decision when it comes to goals, red cards, penalties and instances of mistaken identity.

Per David Amoyal of ESPN FC, the new technology means supporters have to think twice before lauding a goal:

Bleacher Report's Gianni Verschueren also commented on the lack of clarity on how to get the best out of the system at the moment:

Big names in Serie A have also had their say on VAR, with some of the reviews far from positive. Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri said football in Italy will "become like baseball in the United States, we stay 10 hours at the stadium eating peanuts," per Sky Sports.

Meanwhile, Italy's legendary goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made it clear he isn't a fan either. "It's no longer football—it's turning into water polo," he said in August, per ESPN FC. "It takes too long. I didn't celebrate when we were awarded a penalty because six minutes had passed."

Adam Shergold of MailOnline reported in March the Premier League could use VAR after the International Football Association Board completes a two-year testing process, which would be the 2018/19 season at the earliest.