EXCLUSIVE
FANS opposed to VAR received top-level backing.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has come down on the side of many football fans, players and pundits against Video Assistant Referees.
As the controversies pile up, the animosity towards the system is continuing to build.
Ceferin summed up the frustrations of many supporters when he said: “If you have a long nose, you are in an offside position these days. Also the lines are drawn by the VARS, so it’s a subjective drawing of objective criteria.
“So our proposal will be – we will discuss this with our referees’ division – that it is a tolerance of 10-20 centimetres.
“Second thing, we had at UEFA the top coaches in Nyon two weeks ago. There was Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Max Allegri, Carlo Ancelotti, Zinedine Zidane.
“Our referee officer, Roberto Rossetti shows a handball. He says: ‘Handball or not?’
“Half the room said yes. Half said no. So tell me how clear the rule is.We don’t know anything!
“For example, let me think about the Liverpool game against Manchester City. Was that handball or not?”
Referee Michael Oliver denied Manchester City a penalty against title rivals Liverpool last month when Bernardo Silva’s cross struck Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold. Klopp’s side benefited and went on to win.
Ceferin said: “Some referees in England don’t even check. In Italy they check for half an hour. You know, it’s a mess.
“I was never a big fan of this. Now you see that linesmen don’t even bother to lift the flag anymore.They wait, wait, wait.
“The players? They don’t celebrate. Now they wait first for the VAR. And, as I said, handball – no one can explain what is handball and what is not.
“What is intentional? The referee is not a psychiatrist to know if you did it on purpose or not!”
Leicester benefited last Sunday after VAR over-ruled a linesman’s flag and allowed Kelechi have
Iheanacho’s winner to stand against Everton, piling pressure on Toffees boss Marco Silva.
Ceferin went on: “Referees make mistakes. I’ve followed football since I was a kid.The first game I remember is 1978 when I watched the World Cup in Argentina. Kempes – 3-1 in the final against Holland.
“Referees’ mistakes are like players’ mistakes. Now it’s some kind of technology. Nobody knows who is deciding. It’s OK if you don’t rule someone offside if it’s one centimetre because the meaning of offside is that I have to have some kind of advantage.
“I’m not a big fan, but unfortunately, if we say we don’t use it anymore, we are killed.”
While VAR will be used at the European Championship finals next summer, it was not in operation during the qualifiers as Ceferin’s home nation, Slovenia,