Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho could find himself in hot water after questioning the integrity of the video assistant referee during Friday night’s shock defeat at Real Betis.
Madrid suffered their first loss of the season in Seville with Troy Parrott scoring the only goal with nine minutes to go.
The visitors had an excellent chance to equalise in stoppage time when Vinicius Jr went down theatrically under a challenge from Natan and referee Alejandro Hernandez Hernandez pointed to the spot. Kylian Mbappe took responsibility but saw his effort saved by Álvaro Valles.
The controversy came when Betis defender Marc Bartra got to the rebound ahead of Mbappe despite having one leg inside the area, albeit in the air. IFAB guidance suggests if his other leg was outside the area, and touching the ground, then it is okay and the VAR Javier Iglesias Villanueva rightly opted not to intervene.
Mourinho was incensed and used part of his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions League clash with Inter Milan to express his unhappiness.
He said: “We lost to Betis because we didn’t convert our attacking opportunities into goals. But the penalty… Why wasn’t it retaken?
“Well, because the VAR doesn’t know the rules… or because they didn’t want to. This is a question I’d like the people in charge to answer. Why?
“If VAR didn’t order it to be retaken because they didn’t know the rules, they should just go home and leave it at that. If they didn’t order it to be retaken because they didn’t want to, that’s even worse.
“And then there’s another, even worse question: if they didn’t know the rules, why didn’t they call the referee over to review it on the monitor? A bit strange.”
What do IFAB rules state?
If a player is airborne when a restart is taken (e.g. at a penalty kick), their position is now determined by the projected position of their feet if they were touching the ground. ‘Airborne’ only applies when the whole of the body is off the ground.
In other cases, a player’s position at a restart is determined by the position of their feet or any part of their body which is touching the ground (except as outlined in Law 11 – Offside).
Mourinho insistent Madrid were robbed
Although Bartra seemingly did nothing wrong, Mourinho believes the officiating team committed an error.
He added: “I want to assume honesty and think that he didn’t know he was in the penalty area. I prefer to go down that road. But if that’s the case, the referee can’t do it, VAR has to. Because in a few weeks or months, if something similar happens, it will be retaken.
“And I want to make it clear that we didn’t lose because of this, because we could have even missed the retake.
“But as the Real Madrid coach and as a player, I’d like to know why the message wasn’t repeated. I’d like people to answer me responsibly.”
Mourinho was also baffled by the fact Vinicius Jr was shown a yellow card for approaching the referee when he, as captain, is permitted to do so.
He said: “The other thing about this match, which is unrelated, is why the Real Madrid captain received a yellow card.
“When Vinicius approached the referee and saw the card before he even reached him, I’d like to know why. Why are we always told that the captain has the right to politely approach the referee to ask for an explanation.”
The defeat meant Madrid ended the weekend in third place on nine points, three behind Barca.
You Should Also Read
