The consultant on refereeing for the Ukrainian Football Association, Nicola Rizzoli, acknowledged the presence of referees’ mistakes in two matches of the Ukrainian Premier League involving Rivne’s Veres. These mistakes affected the final results of the matches Veres – Kryvbas and Veres – Metalist 1925.
This is reported by Rivne24
In the first case, regarding the match Veres – Kryvbas, in the 16th minute of the game, Veres winger Guilherme Baía found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper when a Kryvbas defender clearly committed a foul by bringing him down with his hands. However, referee Oleksandr Shandor and VAR referee Roman Blavatsky ignored this incident.
– Number 80 of the Veres team clearly outpaced the defender in the battle for position, preparing the ball for control, when the Kryvbas defender, being in an unfavorable position, used his left hand to hold the opponent by the jersey, causing him to fall. The referee failed to fully assess the situation. However, the foul looks obvious. The video assistant should have recommended a review of the replay. In this case, a penalty should have been awarded. The expected reaction would be a yellow card for the defender, – noted Rizzoli.
The second incident occurred in the game Veres – Metalist 1925, which ultimately deprived Veres of the opportunity to enter the top ten of the championship. In the 63rd minute, Volodymyr Saliuk scored after a pass from Denys Antyukh, but initially struck the Rivne defender Kostas Stamulys with his elbow. Referee Andriy Kovalenko and VAR referee Volodymyr Novokhatni did not pay attention to this foul.
– The referee missed a key moment as he was watching several pairs of players. Reviewing the episode on the monitor would have been an expected decision. The video assistant should have advised reviewing the replay. The Metalist 1925 forward seemingly intentionally made a hard contact with his left hand to the back of the opponent, after which he scored unimpeded. The correct decision would have been to award a free kick in favor of the defending team, – concluded Nicola Rizzoli.