Debatable incidents involving VAR
The following are six debatable incidents in the last year involving video replay technology (VAR) which has been used on a trial basis and approved by football’s law-making body (Ifab) last Saturday.
GERMANY V CAMEROON
(June 25, Confederations Cup)
Cameroon’s Sebastien Siani was wrongly booked for a reckless high challenge by teammate Ernest Mabouka on Germany’s Emre Can.
Referee Wilmar Roldan reviewed the incident using VAR but, instead of booking the right player, he added to the injustice by changing Siani’s card from yellow to red.
Amid Cameroon protests, he reviewed the incident again, rescinded Siani’s sending off and showed a red card to the correct culprit Mabouka.
“Everybody’s confused including me,” said Cameroon coach Hugo Broos.
“First of all I saw a red card, then it was a yellow card, then he [the referee] came to the jury next to the pitch, then he went again to player, then he gave a red card for another player, so don’t ask me what really happened.”
BORUSSIA DORTMUND V COLOGNE
(Sept 17, Bundesliga)
Sokratis Papastathopoulos scored from close range for Dortmund after Cologne goalkeeper Timo Horn dropped the ball at a corner.
The referee first awarded Cologne a free kick but, after consulting with the VAR, changed his mind and gave the goal.
However, Cologne said that the referee had blown his whistle before the ball entered the goal, meaning that he could not subsequently award it no matter what VAR showed.
AC MILAN V LAZIO
(Jan 28, Serie A)
Lazio coach Simone Inzaghi was left perplexed after Patrick Cutrone’s opening goal for Milan was allowed to stand even though replays showed the ball come off his arm.
Inzaghi says he could not understand why the incident was not spotted by the VAR.
FIORENTINA V JUVENTUS
(Feb 9, Serie A) Fiorentina were awarded a first-half penalty after Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini handled Marco Benassi’s cross.
Jordan Veretout stepped up to take the kick but was kept waiting by the referee for three minutes.
The referee then drew a television symbol in the air and awarded a free kick to Juventus near the corner flag.
Replays showed that Benassi was offside when he crossed the ball but the ball had come to him off Juve defender Alex Sandro — making it a question of interpreting whether Sandro had deliberately played the ball.
“They took a lifetime to decide,” said Stefano Pioli after the match.
SPORTING V FEIRENSE
(Feb 11, Portuguese league)
Sporting’s Seydou Doumbia had a goal disallowed because of a foul by teammate Bruno Fernandes deep in the Sporting half around 20 seconds earlier.
In between the foul and the goal, Sporting lost possession to Feirense before regaining it.
The Portuguese federation, following Ifab guidelines, said that the referee should only review play from the moment an attack starts, an attack being defined as “a move which goes rapidly towards the opposing goal”.
It therefore concluded that, because Sporting’s build-up had been interrupted, the referee had misinterpreted the Ifab protocol and the goal had been wrongly disallowed.
NAPOLI V SPAL
(Feb 18, Serie A)
Marek Hamsik scored for Napoli, the stadium announcer Decibel Bellini went through his entire ear-splitting celebratory routine and SPAL were ready to re-start the match before the referee made the VAR signal.
The goal was disallowed for offside, which replays showed was the correct decision, but only by a matter of centimetres, raising questions over whether the incident should not have been reviewed as it was not a clear, obvious mistake.
To add insult to injury, Hamsik was booked for smashing into the corner flag as he celebrated a goal that never was.