Iturralde González adamant on Suárez pen in Sporting-Benfica: retake | OneFootball

The penalty missed by Luis Suárez, saved by Anatoliy Trubin, continues to spark controversy after the derby between Sporting and Benfica (2-1). At the heart of the matter is Andreas Schjelderup’s intervention, as he entered the box before the shot and ended up clearing the ball, in an incident that raises doubts about the legality of the play.

For Iturralde González, a former Spanish international referee, there is no room for doubt: the penalty should have been retaken. “This play is about the interpretation of the rule. There was a similar incident in Spain in which the penalty was not retaken. I asked for clarification and they told me they did not order a retake because there was no challenge for the ball. In other words, the defender enters, but the attacker does not go to challenge for the ball. But I do not agree with that explanation at all. Why? Because the rule says ‘enters or challenges for the ball’; it does not mean they have to challenge for it 100%. The simple fact of entering before the shot is already an offence".

"The penalty had to be retaken. The rule is what it is. We cannot twist the dictionary and the vocabulary to prove ourselves right. The rule does not say that if the defender enters, the forward has to enter and challenge for the ball. It says that if the defender enters too early, that is already an offence. For me, the penalty had to be retaken,” he said in comments to Record newspaper.

The former referee reinforced the idea after seeking clarification from a UEFA source, also pointing the finger at VAR. "The player who enters [the box] interferes with the play. He influences the play because he is the one who clears it. He does not need to be under pressure from an opponent. He enters, clears the ball, he is interfering, influencing the play and gaining an advantage from it. Therefore, it has to be retaken. The referee on the pitch may have missed it, but what cannot be allowed is for VAR to miss it too, because while calmly watching the game, it has to alert the referee to order the penalty to be retaken".

In his analysis of the rule, Iturralde González says that the recent changes do not alter the framework of this incident. "The rule change does not affect the fact that a teammate of the penalty taker enters and benefits from that improper entry. That has not changed. The rule was changed for another type of situation. In other words, VAR only comes into action when those who enter are part of the action. And here, the one who enters is part of the action. In other words, he is the one who clears it. The rule change has nothing to do with this. The penalty had to be retaken and VAR should have said so. ", he concluded, describing the incident as "a very serious technical error".

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