The penalty awarded to FC Porto against Lazio was a perfect example of VAR removing context from what is after all a contact sport, writes Susy Campanale.
The initial call from referee Deniz Aytekin, who could not have been better placed, was to book Mehdi Taremi for simulation, as he flailed his arms going down dramatically and seemed to drag his foot to seek contact with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
However, VAR Christian Dingert intervened and called for the official to look at it again with the on-field monitor.
What he saw from that camera angle was a slowed-down version showing contact between Taremi and the Lazio player.
Of course there was contact, this was never in doubt, but this remains a contact sport, even when refereeing guidelines seem to suggest otherwise.
The problem is that VAR shows the referee a very specific moment of the move, taking away crucial context.
A VAR on-field review shows two legs making contact, not that one was dragged on purpose to make that contact happen.
It shows a player going down, not that he flung himself to make the most of the impact he had sought out.
VAR should’ve let the referee watch the whole thing again, in real time and not slowed down, from different angles.
The slow-motion inevitably makes things look worse than they really are, so this is a technique that also has to be used on handball incidents, because human error and the speed of the movement are essential variants in what is ultimately a subjective decision.
Excellent breakdown, explanation and analysis Susy. Totally agree.
This remains a contact sport, but contact should not be between two sets of legs with no ball present. That would be a foul.
I’m not saying this was a penalty, but the fact is he reached to the ball first and Savic was late, and if we leave it to the referee’s interpretation then we’ll be back to the old days before VAR.
Imagine if they don’t blow the whistle for every contact like this in the box, there would be even more controversy as it will be down to the referee to determine if the contact is “enough” or not.
Bro. Defender clearly stepped on his foot! Have you played football?
It is clear that the losing side will not be happy and argue the aspect of the slow motion that reveals true face of the incident. This called technology eyes and not spilt of a second happening which human can not trace instantly.
When you loose you can try to improve or you can try to blame someone else. Blame Porto for playing better in both games