Iturralde González: Farioli’s side got lucky in Santa Clara v Porto | OneFootball

Iturralde González has no doubt: Porto was favored by the refereeing against Santa Clara. In the analysis of the key moments of the Liga Portugal Betclic match, the former Spanish international referee believes that Bednarek should have been sent off at the very beginning of the match.

"Two things need to be considered in the play: first, whether there was a foul or not, and if simply placing the hand above the shoulder is enough. Second, if the foul is called, what is the appropriate disciplinary sanction?” begins the former referee, in statements to the newspaper Record.

"In this case, the referee decides to call a foul and show a yellow card. Here, in my opinion, the referee makes a mistake. If the foul is called, Bednarek needs to be sent off in a clear goal-scoring opportunity,” adds Iturralde González, understanding that the Porto defender should have seen the red card.

"I will repeat what I have said: in clear goal-scoring opportunities, the referee's perspective is always much worse than that of an aerial camera, which allows better viewing of the distance between the defenders. For me, if the foul is called, there is no other option but to send off Bednarek. In my opinion, this is a play where VAR could have helped,” concludes the former referee.

With this victory, Porto has accumulated 49 points in 17 matches (16 wins and one draw) and remains at the top of the Liga Portugal Betclic. Sporting is second (42 points in 17 matches) and Benfica third (39 points in 17 games). In the next round, the Eagles visit Rio Ave (January 17, at 8:30 PM).

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