How so? Expert says Benfica got a break with Luis Suárez penalty | OneFootball

One of the incidents that sparked the most controversy in the latest derby was the penalty awarded to Sporting. During the taking of the spot-kick, which would end up being saved by Anatoliy Trubin, the Lions’ players appealed for the penalty to be retaken, due to Schjelderup’s alleged ‘encroachment’. After analysing the incident, Iturralde González believes the Benfica winger committed an infringement.

“This situation is about the interpretation of the rule. There was a similar incident in Spain in which the penalty was not retaken. I asked for clarification and they told me it was not retaken because there was no challenge for the ball,” the former Spanish referee began, speaking to Record.

“In other words, the defender enters, but the attacker does not go to challenge for the ball. But I completely disagree with that response. Why? Because the rule says ‘enters or challenges for the ball’, it does not mean he has to challenge for it 100%,” pointed out the former official, now an expert on refereeing incidents for the sports daily.

“The mere fact of entering before the kick is an offence. The penalty had to be retaken. The rule is what it is. We cannot twist the dictionary and the vocabulary to prove ourselves right,” explained Iturralde González, stating that the rules are quite clear when it comes to this type of situation.

“The rule does not say that if the defender enters, the striker has to enter and challenge for the ball. It says that if the defender enters too early, that alone is an offence. For me, the penalty had to be retaken,” concluded Iturralde González, in comments to Record, stressing that João Pinheiro should have ordered the penalty to be retaken.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.