The president of OM believes that the referee of the Classic made a mistake in awarding a penalty to PSG at the end of the first period, Sunday, in Paris.
A tiny classic. PSG finally disposed of OM at the end of boredom (2-1) Sunday evening, at the Parc des Princes, at the end of the 32nd day of Ligue 1. And this thanks to a penalty awarded to the Parisians at the very end of first period. “I never talk about the decisions of the referees, it’s not my style“Said Jorge Sampaoli, not decided to tackle the choices of Francois Letexier at a press conference. Amine Harit did not hesitate to say that the referee’s decision “was not good» in the mixed zone. Before that, its president, Pablo Longoria, had made the same speech on Amazondeclaring himself first “surprised by many decisions» and affirming that we must «protect” and even “respect soccer».
Recall of facts. We are in stoppage time in the first period, at 1-1, when Neymar, at the entrance to the surface, tries to find a partner in depth. Unless it’s a miss. Still, Valentin Rongier saw the ball touch his elbow on this shot. After viewing the images, Mr. Letexier indicated the penalty spot and Kylian Mbappé scored.
The Thigh of Discord
Except that on some shots, we can clearly see that the leather first touched, in fact touched, the thigh of said Rongier. Has the referee seen this plan? Did he consider despite everything that the course of the ball was not modified? Mr. Longoria, he believes in any case that “it changes the trajectory of the ball“, at the microphone ofAmazon Prime Video. «When it touches the thigh, there is never a hand in all the European championships… It’s a difficult decision to accept, especially when you call on the VAR“, he says again, calling for greater uniformity of decisions in this type of situation. “It is not normal“, he adds, believing that “that’s not football».
And to continue:If we have the VAR, it is to avoid this type of refereeing error. As a result, it’s a difficult decision to accept when everyone saw that the ball hit the thigh… It’s impossible to call a penalty like that, in a good football match, between two good teams, the first against the second in Ligue 1.»
We have the VAR for that
Paul Longoria
As for the “good game“, we will say with leniency that everything is subject to interpretation, as this PSG-OM will not remain in the annals…”It was a game in control for both teams. Neither team won many duels in the middle and so there were few transitions and few chances, it’s true, but this kind of match between first and second is played often on small details. When small details can be controlled by technology… I am the first to be critical with my team: it was not a game in which we had 30 chances. But on a match that is played on details… We have the VAR for that“, concluded the”football purist»Longoria. In the meantime, OM leave empty-handed but retain a three-point lead in the standings over Rennes, third, before facing Nantes on Wednesday (9 p.m., 33rd day).