Ese empate no parecía justo, porque la árbitra había pitado un penalti muy raro.

In sports, empate means a draw or tie: a game or result where neither side wins.

It is a masculine noun, so you say:

• el empate
• ese empate
• un empate justo

This is why the adjective later is justo, not justa.

Ese means that.

Here, ese empate points to a specific draw that is already known from the context, like that draw in English.

A quick comparison:

• este empate = this draw
• ese empate = that draw

In modern everyday Spanish, the difference is often just the normal this/that contrast. So ese empate is the natural choice if the speaker is referring back to a particular result already being discussed.

Parecía is the imperfect of parecer.

The imperfect is often used for:

• descriptions in the past
• background information
• ongoing impressions or states

So no parecía justo means something like it didn’t seem fair as an ongoing impression or evaluation.

If you said no pareció justo, that would sound more like a completed reaction at one specific moment: it didn’t seem fair at that moment.

In this sentence, parecía fits well because the speaker is describing how the draw looked or felt in the situation.

Yes, you could, but it changes the nuance.

• no parecía justo = it didn’t seem fair
• no era justo = it wasn’t fair

Parecía is softer and more subjective. It presents the unfairness as an impression or judgment.

Era is stronger and more direct. It sounds more like the speaker is stating a fact.

So the original sentence leaves a little more room for perspective, while no era justo sounds more categorical.

Because justo agrees with empate, and empate is masculine singular.

Agreement in Spanish means adjectives usually match the noun in:

• gender
• number

So:

• el empate justo
• ese empate parecía justo

If the noun were feminine, you would use justa.

Because porque is the word for because.

In Spanish:

• porque = because
• por qué = why

So here:

• ..., porque la árbitra había pitado... = ..., because the referee had called...

You use por qué in questions, for example:

• ¿Por qué parecía injusto? = Why did it seem unfair?

Árbitra is the feminine form of árbitro, meaning a female referee.

So:

• el árbitro = the male referee / referee
• la árbitra = the female referee

It keeps la, not el.

That is different from nouns like agua or arma, which often use el in the singular before a stressed a sound:

• el agua fría
• el arma peligrosa

With words referring to people, Spanish normally keeps the feminine article clear:

• la árbitra
• la árabe
• la actriz

So la árbitra is the correct form here.

Había pitado is the pluperfect (also called the past perfect): had blown / had called / had awarded.

It is formed with:

• había
  • past participle
• here: había
  • pitado

The pluperfect shows an action that happened before another past moment.

In this sentence, the idea is:

1. the referee had already called the penalty
2. because of that, the draw didn’t seem fair

So había pitado marks the penalty decision as something that had already happened before the speaker’s judgment about the draw.

If you used pitó, that would simply say the referee called a penalty, without emphasizing that earlier relationship so clearly.

Yes. Pitar literally means to blow a whistle or to whistle.

In football and other sports, it is also commonly used for what a referee does when making decisions. So:

• pitar una falta = to call a foul
• pitar un penalti = to award/call a penalty

This is very natural Spanish, especially in sports language.

So even though the literal image is blowing the whistle, in context it really means the referee called/gave that decision.

Penalti is the Spanish adaptation of penalty and is very common in Spain, especially in football.

So:

• un penalti = a penalty kick / a penalty

It is masculine:

• el penalti
• un penalti raro

In other Spanish-speaking countries, you may also hear:

• un penal
• sometimes un penalty

But for Spanish from Spain, penalti is completely normal and very common.

Literally, muy raro means very strange or very odd.

In this football context, it probably means the penalty was:

• unusual
• questionable
• suspicious
• not a normal or clear decision

So un penalti muy raro does not necessarily mean funny-weird. It suggests that the penalty felt odd or dubious.

Depending on tone and context, it can imply that the referee’s decision was hard to understand or maybe unfair.

In Spanish, adjectives usually come after the noun:

• un penalti raro
• un partido difícil
• una decisión injusta

So un penalti muy raro is the normal order.

You can sometimes put an adjective before the noun, but that often changes the tone or meaning.

• un penalti raro = a strange/odd penalty
• un raro penalti = a rather literary or marked phrasing, and it can sound more like an unusual kind of penalty

So the original order is the most natural one in everyday Spanish.