“Harsh to give a penalty”, says Iturralde González on FC Porto incident | OneFootball

Iturralde González considered the penalty awarded against FC Porto in the match against Sp. Braga, in the 27th round of the Betclic League, to have been wrongly given, in an analysis of the main controversial incidents of the round.

The former Spanish international referee believes that the incident involving Gabri Veiga and Niakaté did not justify the awarding of a penalty. In his view, the referee saw contact with the Braga player’s shirt, but overestimated the situation.

“For me, it is not enough for the referee to award a penalty. Gabri Veiga grabs Niakaté’s shirt with his right hand and that is what the referee sees, but he makes a mistake, because the rules talk about holding, not grabbing,” he explained.

Iturralde González also distinguished between the two concepts, arguing that a penalty should only be given when the defender clearly prevents the opponent from moving or from challenging for the ball. “You have to hold the opponent firmly for it to be a penalty, that is, make it so that you do not let him move, that you do not let him challenge for the ball. That is a penalty,” he said.

In the former referee’s opinion, Niakaté ended up exaggerating the fall the moment he realized he would no longer reach the ball. “Here, the Sp. Braga player is grabbed, but when he sees that he can no longer get to the ball, he goes down,” he stressed.

Iturralde González nevertheless admitted that the referee’s decision can be understood in the context of the incident, although he still disagrees with it. “I can even understand the referee’s decision, because he takes a little while to award the penalty, he does not give it immediately when the player falls. He must have had some doubt, but for me it is excessive to award a penalty,” he concluded.

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