VAR audio revealed on Hjulmand penalty in Sporting v Braga clash | OneFootball

The Portuguese Football Federation’s Refereeing Council released, last Thursday, October 9th, the audio recordings of communications between referees and video assistant referees (VAR) regarding certain incidents from recent rounds of the Liga Portugal Betclic and Liga 2. One of the main highlights was the conversation between Cláudio Pereira and Cláudia Ribeiro at the moment a penalty is awarded against Morten Hjulmand in the Sporting - Braga match, which resulted in the match ending in a draw.

Cláudia Ribeiro, VAR: “VAR here, Cláudio. I’m asking you to come to the review area for a possible penalty. I’m going to show you Hjulmand completely grabbing the player. (…) Here he is, grabbing the shirt completely. The player can’t play the ball, the ball falls there. He never lets go of the opponent.”

Cláudio Pereira, referee: “Alright, Cláudia. I’m going to change my decision.”

VAR: “Do you want another camera angle?”

Referee: “I’m going to change my decision and give Hjulmand a yellow card.”

VAR: “Here’s the other [camera angle].”

Referee: “Yes, yes. He pulls a lot… number 42.”

Furthermore, Duarte Gomes, technical director of the Refereeing Council, also expressed support for the decision made in the Sporting match: “It’s not an easy incident, in the last minute. A decisive moment, already in stoppage time, in a match that is theoretically difficult to referee, with heightened emotions,” he began by saying.

“It’s possible to remain calm, focused, and pragmatic, with assertive, calm, and accurate communication. These are the penalties we want to see awarded. The player is completely prevented from trying to play the ball. He is persistently grabbed, as shown in the image, with both hands, by a player whose only objective at that moment is to stop his opponent. Hence the yellow card. These are the penalties that make sense to award for holding. This is the message we convey to referees, and these are the incidents where we want VAR intervention,” he added.

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