Miroslav Stupar: "The VAR referee interfered and provoked the referee to make a wrong decision"

In the postponed match of the 15th round of the Ukrainian championship between Oleksandriya and Obolon (2:2), three penalties were awarded at once, two of which were in favour of the Brewers. Myroslav Stupar, a former FIFA referee and now a reputable expert, assessed the legitimacy of these "sentences":

"The 11-metre penalties earned by Oleksandriya were fair: the visitors' defenders broke the rules in the fight against them.

But in an episode in the 80th minute, referee Yaroslav Kozik made a mistake when awarding a penalty kick to the Citizens. In this game moment, the guest striker Rostyslav Taranukha played ahead of the game and pushed the ball towards the goal with his toe. The home goalkeeper Georgy Ermakov, without touching the forward, blocked the shot in his fall and the ball went over the goal line.

Kozik's first decision was correct: a corner. But unexpectedly, VAR referee Dmytro Kubryak intervened and asked the referee to review the episode. I don't know what prompted Kozik to change his decision and award a penalty. It was a productive mistake, because Taranukha hit the spot.

Unfortunately, despite the change in the leadership of the UAF Referees Committee, the referees continue to make mistakes. They still have a lot to learn. To begin with, I would advise all domestic referees to carefully watch the video of the second quarter-final Champions League match between Barcelona and PSG, where referee Istvan Kovacs from Romania showed his best. We should take an example from him," Stupar said.