Sudakov escapes punishment in Vitória SC v Benfica: right call | OneFootball

Georgiy Sudakov was recently 'cleared' of the incident he was involved in against Vitória Guimarães. In the match in question, the Benfica player, after losing the ball, stepped on his opponent, but was not sent off. A decision that, in the opinion of Duarte Gomes, was rightly made by the refereeing team.

Appearing on the program 'Livre Arbítrio', broadcast by Canal 11, the technical director of refereeing at the FPF was invited to comment on the key moments of the Vitória SC - Benfica match. “It’s clear why this incident caused controversy,” Duarte Gomes began, when addressing the foul committed by Georgiy Sudakov.

“It’s a very harsh incident, which we consider to be orange, right on the borderline. There are some elements that could be considered for a red card and others that are not,” added the former referee, revealing the type of nature in which this kind of foul fits within the code of conduct.

However, in the case of the foul committed by the number 10 of the Eagles, against the team from Guimarães, the FPF technical director believes João Pinheiro made the right call in his final verdict: “This incident has a dangerous contact variable, but there are mitigating factors to justify the yellow card, which was the correct decision.”

“The player loses initial control of the ball and tries to recover it with too much force. Sudakov and the V. Guimarães player both had their feet planted on the ground and, therefore, between the elements for red and yellow, the referee decided according to the criteria. When in doubt, you go for the lesser punishment. That is, between yellow and red, you give a yellow,” explained Duarte Gomes.

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