After Superclásico row, River to ask AFA to drop Héctor Paletta | OneFootball

River’s leadership will submit a request to the Argentine Football Association asking that Héctor Paletta, the VAR referee in the last Superclásico, not officiate their matches anymore. The club believes they were harmed by the official in the final play of the match, since he did not call Darío Herrera over to review a push by Lautaro Blanco on Lucas Martínez Quarta.

The final minute of the match was the most controversial moment of a Superclásico that had been fairly calm in that regard until then. Darío Herrera believed that Blanco’s off-the-ball push on Martínez Quarta had not been strong enough to knock him down and that River’s captain himself had exaggerated the play in search of a penalty that would have given them a chance to equalize.

Héctor Paletta, in Ezeiza, upheld the on-field referee’s decision and did not call him over to review the play. Once the match ended, several River players went to protest to the referee. Martínez Quarta, who was involved in the play, told him: “He doesn’t let me play the ball, it’s a penalty. I’m surprised by you, considering you’re going to the World Cup.”

Later, in the mixed zone, he explained the play to TyC Sports microphones: “Blanco has no intention of playing the ball. He goes straight at me and I’ve got my back turned. I can’t go after it. Everyone saw it. VAR should have called him over. I don’t know whether what was said during the week, when they came out and spoke, may have influenced something. I want to believe in good faith and that it wasn’t like that. I respect Herrera and mistakes are human.”

According to what this outlet learned in recent hours, Fernando Rapallini, Technical Refereeing Manager and former Argentine football referee, believed that Héctor Paletta acted correctly from the VAR booth, since he did not have any more tools than Herrera had on the field. In his view, that observation by the referee is supported by the images that have been replayed since the end of the Superclásico.

At the same time, Federico Beligoy, Secretary of the Argentine Referees Association and the man in charge of appointments, went even further and praised Herrera for his performance. The National Director of Refereeing rated the Superclásico referee’s performance as “8 or 9 out of 10.”

At River, the anger continues and, after submitting the request to the AFA, they are awaiting a response that will be given in the coming hours.

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