Former FIFA referee Miroslav Stupar assessed the actions of the referees in yesterday’s matches of Ukrainian teams in the European cup qualifiers:
Miroslav Stupar— First of all, I expected more from “Dynamo” in the match against “Maccabi.” But the Kyiv team once again unpleasantly surprised with their helplessness in a game with fewer players. I remember that last season the senseless actions of Vladyslav Dubinchak led to his expulsion in a match against “Ferencvaros,” and it ended in a rout — 0:4.
A similar situation occurred yesterday in Serbia, when with a score of 0:0 at the beginning of the second half, Kostyantyn Vyvcharenko struck the ankle of a Maccabi player, and referee Krouashvili punished him with a red card. There is no doubt about the fairness of this decision, and the defender deserves criticism for this foul in a non-goal-scoring situation. However, it is also surprising to see the resignation of Oleksandr Shovkovskyi’s team, who, having been reduced to ten players, practically resigned themselves to the inevitable defeat. Fortunately, it didn’t lead to a heavy loss. Given the Dynamo players’ attitude towards their duties, doubts arise whether they will manage to take revenge with the required score in a week.
Dynamo players should learn how to act with fewer players from “Fiorentina,” who managed to turn a match against “Polissya” in the Conference League into a rout — 3:0.
Although in the incident at the end of the first half, referee Agayev did not notice that initially, Polissya defender Eduard Sarapiy held back the guest attacker Kin, who ultimately lost his composure. Certainly, for elbowing, the Italian rightly left the field, but Sarapiy should have been punished with a warning.
There are questions to Agayev regarding the game moment that preceded the second goal conceded by Polissya. The guest defender Pohnhrachich clearly pushed Alexander Nazarenko in the back in the penalty area as he charged towards the goal. The referee missed this violation, but why did the VAR referee ignore this foul? I’m convinced that after reviewing the video, Agayev would point to the 11-meter mark.
Once again, there were injuries to “Shakhtar” players, this time during the Conference League match against Swiss “Servette.” However, yesterday, the Brazilian legionnaires of the miners did not escape muscle injuries, and therefore there can be no claims against their opponents and referee Walsh.
