"Relying on judgment"

VAR fiasco in a thriller! Referee “invents penalty”

Symbolic image

(Bild: GEPA)

It's not just in Austria that the use of video assistants in soccer occasionally causes frustration, anger and incomprehension; in Switzerland, people are well acquainted with mistakes or curious interpretations of the rules by referees - and a veritable VAR fiasco has once again raised the roof in Switzerland since the weekend!

Apparently, the VAR convinced the referee to award a penalty in FC Luzern's clash with Grasshoppers Zurich - for a handball that he couldn't even see because it hadn't happened ...

It is therefore no coincidence that the Swiss newspaper "Blick" now writes that "the man in front of the screen, who as a video assistant should be helping to make the game fairer, has invented a penalty. That is a complete disaster".

Referee von Mandach initially decided on a corner kick
What happened: Just two minutes after the Austrian Adrian Grbić had awarded an undisputed penalty for Lucerne, a tricky situation arose in the Zurich penalty area.

Referee Johannes von Mandach, who had a good view of what was happening, initially ruled for a corner, but was then radioed by his VAR Luca Cibelli and asked to come to the side of the pitch to watch. And although von Mandach could not see anything on the TV images that were played, the VAR insisted that there had been a handball.

"He told me that he had seen better quality images on TV!"
"I then asked: 'Is the ball really clear on the hand? He told me that he had seen better quality pictures on TV where the ball was on the hand. So I trusted this judgment," the referee told "blue Sport".

Which turned out to be a mistake - which the Swiss head referee Daniel Wermelinger has since clearly identified and admitted as such. Of course, this realization no longer helps the Grasshoppers, who remain in penultimate place in the Super League table with just nine points ...