"Shakhtar insist that Polissya player Vladyslav Shapoval should have received a red card in a recent Ukrainian league match.
Dario Srna. Photo: shakhtar.comShakhtar's sporting director Dario Srna expressed his opinion in a comment to the club's press service: "Unfortunately, I would like to return once again to yesterday's game, where the VAR referee, Mr Balakin, made a very serious mistake. And we can no longer remain silent about it. Since the start of the league, Shakhtar players have received five red cards. Three of them, in my opinion, were fair. However, even our lighter fouls ended in sending off, and yesterday in the 10th minute there was a clear red card on Bondar, and no one is even discussing it
As far as I understand, Mr Balakin has refereed two games in Europe in the last three or four weeks. I consider Mr Balakin to be a young and promising referee, but yesterday he made a very serious mistake that is not up to his level. And I think that with this approach, Ukrainian referees will not stay in Europe for long."
However, FIFA ex-referee Miroslav Stupar does not believe that there should have been a sending off in the episode with Bondar: "Paskhal correctly limited himself to a warning," Stupar said in a comment to the UPL TV telegram channel.
