How the confusion of VAR upset Mauricio Pochettino and confused fans | Football News

Two handballs. A given penalty. A step. Tuesday night, VAR again sowed confusion in the Champions League, but what exactly are the rules?

Mauricio Pochettino, who is not the biggest VAR fan in the past two seasons, did not resist the Spurs' 1-0 victory over Manchester City in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League. The latter was given an early penalty for Danny Rose.

Sergio Aguero missed the goal, but that did not stop Pochettino from running wild on the system, fearing: "We are going to see a different sport, not the football we grew up watching."

Meanwhile, Porto was denied a penalty after Alisson inadvertently pushed the ball over the arm of defender Trent Alexander-Arnold, while Liverpool imposed a 2-0 win against Anfield in his match. go.

Here we review incidents, reactions, social media interpretations and rules …

What happened on Tuesday?

In the 11th minute, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Raheem Sterling's shot from inside the box hit Rose's arm, which had slipped three meters from the surface. There was little appeal, but after the referee Bjorn Kuipers surrendered to the VAR, the penalty was inflicted.

The initial reaction was to think of the dramatic victory of Manchester United in Paris last month against PSG, when Presnel Kimpembe was penalized for a late handball. This incident seems to have set a precedent, a point of reference for fans if you want, and after the replays were aired, the consensus was: penalty.

Rose's hand was up as he slipped inside and it changed the flight of the balloon.

A few minutes later, at Anfield, while Alison was going to catch a looping ball safely at the end of the line, Alexander-Arnold attempted to get the same ball, which prompted the goalkeeper to strangely lead to his teammate.

Standing just one meter from the ball, the ball hit Alexander-Arnold at the elbow and corner, and although VAR was called, Mateu Lahoz gave no penalty.

What was the reaction?

Not for the first time, Pochettino was strong on the use of VAR, despite the victory of his team.

He said, "There is a lot of work to be done with the VAR, I want to try to help the VAR and the system to settle the protocol." But I think that today has shown that the system still has a lot of work to do, there are many decisions where no one knows if VAR is going to be or not, will they check it or not.

"Maybe technically it's a penalty because it's handball, but we still do not know the protocol, there are a lot of question marks and work to do."

"It's not going to be healthy for the VAR or the referees, it's going to be a big problem, I think it's going to change the spirit of the game, and I'm worried, very worried about how we're going to go work next season.

"There are many, many things that we must try to clarify, I think that the direction of football will change, that the spirit will change, that we will see a different sport, not the football we grow in looking. "

Great words. So what are the rules?

The important bit, so read carefully.

UEFA's guidelines were: "Handball is the deliberate act of the hand or arm of a player making contact with the ball. Three magic factors must be taken into account for decide if it is handball: 1. The movement of the hand towards the ball and not the ball towards the hand 2. The distance between the opponent and the ball – was it unexpected 3. And the position of the hand.This is not because it is far from the body that there is offense. "

After Man Utd's victory in Paris, where Diogo Dalot's efforts went 10-15 yards before hitting Kimpembe's arm, UEFA said: "Following the field review, the The referee confirmed that the distance traveled was not short and therefore could not be unexpected.

"The defender's arm was not close to the body, which made it bigger, which prevented the ball from moving in the direction of the goal." The referee therefore granted a penalty shot. "

On Tuesday night, both incidents saw the balloon travel a short distance. Always: a given penalty, a no.

The fact that the Liverpool incident was not a shot on goal and that the ball was not heading towards the goal would have worked in their favor. Again, the decisions seem inconsistent, but that may be due to the fact that there are no two identical handballs. As we know, football is erratic in nature and the respect of strict rules for the interpretation of handball can always be a problem.

But is it different in the Champions League?

UEFA had warned at the beginning of the season that stricter decisions would be taken in the Champions League.

Nevertheless, the legislative body of football, the board of the International Football Association (IFAB), decided to clarify the interpretation of handball at its annual general meeting last month.

His position is that if the ball hits a player's arm when it is stretched beyond the body's "natural silhouette", a penalty must be inflicted.

He also said that as early as next season, goals scored or created with the use of the hand – even accidental – will not be accepted.

Wait, what about the directive "clear and obvious error"?

It appears that VAR will check every handball case in the penalty area, rather than the "clear and obvious" refereeing mistakes he described first.

Will this be the case in the Premier League next season? This is probably not the case, which will only confuse more fans, players and coaches.

Conclusion

Again, more questions than answers.

Pochettino, in particular, sees a real problem regarding the potential impact of the VAR on the atmosphere as well as an increase in the number of penalties inflicted. And handball seems to be the biggest problem.

Although the governing bodies have clarified how i) the distance from the ball, ii) the height of the arm and iii) the movement of the arm may affect the decision, there are still inconsistent decisions.