Pedro Henriques and co highlight refereeing blunder in Benfica - Qarabag | OneFootball

Benfica lost 3-2 to Qarabag in the first round of the Champions League. The Belgian Eric Lambrechts was appointed as the referee for the match and, although there were no major controversies, he failed to show a yellow card to an Azerbaijani player in the very first minute, according to the experts.

"Pedro Bicalho made a negligent challenge, hitting Sudakov's ankle with the sole of his boot. Yellow card to be shown", said Jorge Faustino in statements to the newspaper Record, pointing out a mistake by the referee appointed for the match right in the first minute of the game.

Pedro Henriques shares the same opinion: "Pedro Bicalho, Qarabag player, in his very first challenge of the game, stepped with the sole and studs of his right foot on the instep of Georgiy Sudakov's left foot. A negligent challenge worthy of disciplinary sanction", he stated to the newspaper A Bola.

What is certain is that, although the experts agree on the correct way to judge the incident, Eric Lambrechts only called a foul, letting the Azerbaijani player escape a yellow card, at an early stage of the match, which would certainly have influenced future actions.

Benfica will be back on the pitch next Saturday, September 20, at 6:00 pm, in Vila das Aves, against AVS. The match is part of the sixth round of the Liga Portugal Betclic. The Eagles will play again in the Champions League on September 30, against Chelsea, in London.

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