Pedro Henriques says Benfica were wronged v St. Gallen: clear error | OneFootball

Pedro Henriques believes that Benfica were harmed by the refereeing in the 5-0 thrashing of St. Gallen, in the second leg of the Europa League second qualifying round. The refereeing expert analyzed the main incidents of the match and concluded that Florian Badstübner and the video assistant referee team made a “clear and obvious error” by failing to award a penalty in favor of the Eagles.

In his analysis of the incident, the former referee explained that the new guidelines for the season favor physical contact and less intervention from the video assistant referee, but he believes the situation in question clearly goes beyond that standard.

“We know that, after the World Cup, referees were encouraged to let play continue and for VAR to intervene only in the case of clear and obvious errors. However, in this incident it was not simple contact, but rather a push in the lower back, which led to Leandro Barreiro falling and losing the ball. A clear penalty for Benfica was not given,” argued Pedro Henriques.

The expert also considered that there were two incidents correctly decided by the refereeing team, pointing to this situation alone as an obvious mistake. Even so, he rated the performance of German referee Florian Badstübner a six.

Despite the critical analysis of the German referee’s work, the decision had no impact on the outcome of the tie. Benfica responded emphatically to the 2-1 defeat in Switzerland and thrashed St. Gallen 5-0 at the Estádio da Luz, securing qualification for the third qualifying round of the Europa League with a dominant display.

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