UAF’s chief refereeing expert, Nicola Rizzoli, commented on the controversial episodes of the 12th round of the Ukrainian Championship match between Kyiv’s «Dynamo» and Cherkasy’s LNZ (0:1).
Nicola Rizzoli2nd minute of the match, Prosper vs. Mykhaylenko in Dynamo’s penalty area:
— A very complex and borderline situation. Dynamo’s defender No. 91 tries to stop LNZ’s forward No. 8, who entered the penalty area, ready to take a shot on goal. The defender’s movement appears to be a normal and fair football action, as his right leg remains aligned with the movement without any effort to impede the opponent.
There is minimal contact between the defender’s right knee and the forward’s left knee, but the contact is so slight that even TV replays make it difficult to consider it carelessly executed. It can be described as a «soft penalty,» which the committee repeatedly emphasizes avoidance, as football is and should remain a contact sport.
The video assistant referee correctly did not intervene, assessing the situation as described above and completed the review. It is also worth emphasizing that if the referee had awarded a penalty, the video assistant referee would have also completed the review without intervention, as it is a borderline situation where the decision on the field carries more weight.
55th minute of the match, Popov vs. Muravsky in LNZ’s penalty area:
— This is a very complicated situation, difficult to assess correctly in real-time, as at the moment of the cross, the holding incident between LNZ’s defender No. 34 and Dynamo’s forward No. 4 had already begun. Therefore, when the referee focuses on it, he only sees the final part of the action and awards a penalty, as it may seem that the LNZ captain holds more. However, the video clearly shows that it is actually the forward who initiates the hold with both hands to take a favorable position, then pulls the defender towards him, violating the rules.
Excellent intervention by the video assistant referee, which allowed for the correct sequence of events to be established and enabled the referee to properly assess the entire dynamic of the situation. Thus, the correct course of action is to resume play with a free-kick in favor of the defending team and cancel the previously issued yellow card to the defender.
Besides Nicola Rizzoli’s explanation, the Referees Committee offers to review the recording of the referees' dialogues during this decision. All of this is available in the video below.
