Former FIFA referee: "Popov did not control the position of his hands when hitting an opponent and was correctly penalised with

After the first match of the qualifying round of the Conference League Dynamo vs Besiktas (2:3), the head coach of Kyivians Mircea Lucescu had claims to the referee team. Miroslav Stupar, a well-known referee in the past, commented on those game episodes, on which the Romanian specialist emphasised when analysing the work of referees in Bucharest:

"In both cases, the VAR system had the last word. Popov did not control the position of his hands when hitting the opponent and was correctly penalised with a penalty, after the implementation of which the Turkish team took the lead.

As for the cancelled goal by Besiktas, this decision did not correspond, as they say, to the spirit of football, because it was recorded offside at the beginning of the attack. On the other hand, if there was an offence, even a minimal one, it should be recorded. After all, that's why the VAR system was introduced, so that the final verdict of the referee was fair. Although, as for me, even after the video-repeat of that spectacularly played by Kyiv team, there are still questions.

Yesterday Dynamo players gave a fight to the Turkish grand, but they are themselves to blame for not achieving a positive result. Unfortunately, we have to state that Kyiv's stopper Sirota and Popov are mediocre players, who can make a mistake at any moment. I wonder why Popov is even called to the national team of Ukraine.

There are claims to the rest of Dynamo players, in particular, the most experienced one - Sidorchuk. He can be praised for his diligence, but Serhiy has not learnt to make the right decisions at key moments. Let's remember, at least, how in the offset time, when the score was tied, Sidorchuk's mistake led to a sharp counterattack of the guests, which ended with the third goal by Buschan. And here there can be no complaints to the referees," Stupar said.