The Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) confirmed today that the referee's decision in the match between Osasuna and Barcelona was correct, and that VAR was right not to intervene.
The second yellow card is very harsh and when I see the images now, I wouldn't give it that way any more. However, that wasn't enough for the German football association's sports court to overturn the automatic one-game ban for a sending-off.
Well, the VAR is never going to overturn a referee's decision to give a penalty when there is contact, and there clearly was. That does not fall into the category of "clear and obvious error". However, to say it was a soft one would be an understatement.
A ball was sent long and as the Portuguese forward attempted to win it, he went to the floor holding his hair. He then approached referee Simone Sozza to say that the Italian defender had pulled him down by his hair. There was then a coming together between the pair, but Sozza seemed to be more strict with Leao, despite the video replays showing that he was very much telling the truth regarding what the former Lazio man had done.
Liverpool may have some justification in questioning an early decision from the referee as Manchester United took a 1-0 lead in the first minute of today's game at Anfield. Bryan Mbeumo struck an early opener for the visitors, but if you watch the goal footage back, as per Sky Sports' video in the X post below, you can see that a clash of heads left Alexis Mac Allister down on the pitch.
Jones was furious with the performance of the referee in his side's 1-0 defeat against the Foxes at The Valley, describing the decision to disallow what would have been a Lloyd Jones equaliser as a "fairytale". And after going out of the EFL Cup to Cambridge, Jones said it was important to put in an improved performance against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday.
I was upset. As a penalty-taker, you have your own routines, your own things that you do. It upset me because the referee didn't apologise. That is what triggered me in that moment, but that's not the excuse for missing the penalty. I had a very bad hit on the ball. I put my foot too under the ball and that's why it ended up going over the bar.
