The wonderful world of VAR. Designed to solve all of football's decision making problems, eradicate poor decisions and ensure that the game is officiated in an efficient, quick and ultimately, correct manner.
Apart from ever since it's inception, things have just been flat out rubbish. Nobody inside the ground has a clue what is going on, the decisions being made don't always make sense and in tonight's case, decisions have been reversed without the refereeing even reviewing the footage itself.
Isn't that the point of VAR? The 'Video Assistant Referee' advises the referee that he has potentially made the wrong decision and needs to review the footage for himself...? Well not in this case, for reasons that we will go on to reveal.
Naturally, with controversy comes Twitter hysteria - and their is plenty of it doing the rounds after the shambolic events between Schalke and Manchester City in the Champions League. Here's a snippet of what's been doing the rounds..
VAR decision #SCHMCI @ChampionsLeague
— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) February 20, 2019
VAR getting everything wrong. 1st not a pen and 2nd was offside before the foul takes place. So who’s deciding what gets looked at and what doesn’t?
— Michael Wood (@woodster1001) February 20, 2019
Just goes to show that as long as the officials are incompetent, VAR will solve nothing. Ridiculous decision #SCHMCI
— Trevor McKinlay (@TrevorMcKinlay) February 20, 2019
The decision to award the penalty didn't convince everybody but there were some who felt it was a clear and obvious handball from Nicolas Otamendi, and therefore, a pretty straight forward decision..
Good thing about VAR is that when properly used, it reduces drastically arguments and doubt, because it's correct 99% of the time.
— Deji Faremi (@deejayfaremi) February 20, 2019
Really don’t know why it took VAR so long to give that pen for Schalke. Pretty obvious
— Oliver Holt (@OllieHolt22) February 20, 2019
My God. Just seen the Schalke pen #VAR incident. What was there to even debate? Penalty all day long; despite the @btsport commentary team trying hard to sow seeds of doubt. Ridiculous.
— Geraint Jones (@jones_itfc) February 20, 2019
So we're off to a good start - because VAR corrects the decisions that are obviously wrong, doesn't it? Hmm.
The next issue seemed to be the fact that it took 4,137,862 minutes to reach a decision. Again, this didn't go unnoticed in Twitter land.
After a three-hour delay, Schalke have been awarded a penalty. The VAR must have been off having a toilet break when the hand ball call was referred to him
— Paul Hirst (@hirstclass) February 20, 2019
Waiting for VAR to make a decision... pic.twitter.com/Xq8zAkeq6K
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) February 20, 2019
Schalke have another penalty! We’ll get back to you in 10 years when VAR has confirmed it.
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 20, 2019
VAR needs speeding up. Wait far too long for this VAR decision. No communication of process on big screens until final verdict. Boos all round at delay until cheers from Schalke fans when VAR signals handball and penalty. Bentaleb pen 1-1 #SchalkeCity
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) February 20, 2019
VAR slowly destroying football. What joy is there in deliberating over a subjective decision for 5 minutes - causing massive delays? Ugly stuff...
— Ryan Elliott (@RyanEJourno) February 20, 2019
After much deliberation with VAR, Schalke have a penalty!#S04MCI
— 90min (@90min_Football) February 20, 2019
But with the decision made (by the men watching the screen, which we'll come on to), the deed was done. So what's the overall verdict on VAR? Unanimous panning it seems..
Complete this sentence...
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) February 20, 2019
VAR is __________ 樂
#VAR is a farce.
— Lee Hayes (@LeeDHayes) February 20, 2019
The game had gone.@ChampionsLeague
And that's the nonsense (for me) about VAR for everything other than yes/no, out/in, on/off decisions. It's caused a ludicrous stoppage, and it's still a subjective decision.
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) February 20, 2019
My issue with that VAR decision is that the ref never looked at it. It was a subjective decision...taken away from the field of play. Regardless of right or wrong call...the referee should be the one to make it using the pitchside screen...
— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) February 20, 2019
Re-reading the VAR protocol, I reckon the ref really should have gone to take another look at that first penalty incident himself
— Andy Hampson (@andyhampson) February 20, 2019
Still, the good news is that everyone was promised that those in the stadium would know what was going on and would be kept informed of any decisions that were being made!
Oh, wait..
I'm sure Uefa said they would signal when VAR was being consulted on the big screens in the stadium, but there's nothing here. Just guessing whenever there's a long delay. Starting to think it's a terrible idea again (or at least terribly executed)
— Sam Lee (@Sammy_Goal) February 20, 2019
Uefa said in their press release on VAR that decisions would be explained/mentioned on big screens inside the stadiums to keep the fans informed of what's going on but we've had absolute zero of that here
— Paul Hirst (@hirstclass) February 20, 2019
Now back to the big reveal. Because it then emerged that the referee had wanted to review the footage after all for Schalke's first penalty. But he couldn't. Because the technology was broken pitchside. BROKEN. In a Champions League last 16 game. Good lord.
The referee couldn’t check the pitchside screen regarding the Otamendi handball because it was faulty. He relied purely on the word of the VAR, which probably isn’t ideal for such a borderline decision
— James Robson (@jamesrobsonES) February 20, 2019
The referee wanted to look at the VAR screen for the first penalty, but couldn't because the screen wasn't working. pic.twitter.com/nXpupeiYxw
— Coral (@Coral) February 20, 2019
So the referee was gonna have a look at VAR but it wasnt working wowwwww so rigged
— Charlie Lockhart (@C_H_lockhart) February 20, 2019
But wait.....there is good news after all!
VAR worked out in the Atletico Madrid-Juventus clash, and successfully overruled a penalty being awarded (when it was infact an infringement that occurred just outside the box) - hallelujah!
VAR rules out a penalty decision at the Wanda, giving Atlético Madrid a free-kick from outside the area instead, which Wojciech Szczesny saves. pic.twitter.com/zZwFyoGnd4
— Squawka News (@SquawkaNews) February 20, 2019
Can’t believe I’m saying this, but that VAR intervention in the Atleti v Juve game was not only timely but also important and justified the technology
— Andy Heaton (@Andrew_Heaton) February 20, 2019
And then just as things were looking up, the man who needs a goal more than anybody else in the whole wide world - Alvaro Morata - had one chalked off by our VAR chums....and again it wasn't clear cut.
Atletico think they've taken the lead. Alvaro Morata powers a header into the net. VAR is consulted and it's overturned for a foul on Chiellini. NO GOAL!
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) February 20, 2019
Live: https://t.co/wW6vlp6x5h#UCL #ATLJUV pic.twitter.com/yZPv2Yhu14
I know we’re sick of VAR chat but that’s the kind of genuine judgement call I really hate it being used for. And I like VAR.
— Chris Deeley (@ThatChris1209) February 20, 2019
The point of VAR is to stop bad decisions not create them #AtletiJuve
— Johan (@Johansez1213) February 20, 2019
Another unbelievable var decision at the Wanda! Morata goal disallowed when in my opinion it should have stood. Almost impossible to score a goal nowadays 😂
— Terry Gibson (@TerryGibson88) February 20, 2019
This has all been a bit much for me, so I'm off for a lie down and a cup of tea. Night.
Source : 90min