Duarte Gomes on Benfica-Casa Pia penalty: “That’s no penalty” | OneFootball

Duarte Gomes analyzed, on Friday night, the main recent refereeing incidents on the program ‘Livro Arbítrio’ on Canal 11. The national technical director of refereeing commented on the controversy surrounding the penalty awarded against Benfica in the match against Casa Pia (2-2) for a handball by António Silva, stating that the referee made a mistake in awarding the foul, but that the intervention of the VAR was not at all mandatory, since the incident did not constitute a clear and obvious error.

“It’s normal for controversy to arise. We respect the sea of emotion, but for us, decisions are not about clubs or referees, our analysis is technical, it’s not made up. There are a set of recommendations that we follow. These are international recommendations that we try to implement. In doing so, we can make mistakes, our video referees can make mistakes. We have a well-defined direction regarding the analyses we make. We are fine-tuning according to the situations that arise. For us, this incident is not a penalty kick. There is a mistake by the match referee. Once again, we are talking about deflections. And when we talk about deflections, we have to consider whether the player’s initial approach was risky, if he raised his arms, made himself bigger to block his goal, if he deliberately or unconsciously did something extra or was just standing still,” he began by explaining the recommendations, before focusing on the incident itself.

“When a ball hits him on the right side of the torso, the hip… he even protects his arm to avoid committing a penalty, to avoid contact with the ball, to protect himself, and then the ball, in an unexpected way, at very short distance, glances off during his rotation to the left. For us, this is the standard for not awarding a penalty kick,” Duarte Gomes explained, before discussing the VAR intervention.

“Another thing concerns the intervention of the video assistant referee. We told this to our referees, to the press, to the clubs during our visits to 30 sports societies, that the instructions we apply for VAR in Portugal are those issued by UEFA. The incident must involve a clear, obvious, and very evident error. For there to be intervention, there cannot be the slightest subjectivity in interpreting that the referee made a mistake. In this case, especially since there are deflections, as we saw, and then the ball hits the arm, therefore the VAR, given the verbalization of what the referee said, that the referee saw the play correctly, saw the deflection, and interpreted that the arm was in an abnormal position for that defensive movement,” he detailed.

For Duarte Gomes, the referee Gustavo Correia should not have awarded the penalty.

“We disagree with the decision. We want this type of incident not to be punished with penalty kicks, but we understand that, given the clear and reiterated instructions we have given, this incident does not have sufficient clarity and evidence for VAR intervention. With the utmost respect I have for the clubs, the press, the players, the directors of the sports societies, and for the noise this may cause… whether in strategic terms or in terms of program content to attract audiences… all we ask is that our analysis is respected. Whether you agree or not, whether you criticize, this is our analysis. This is how we will view all types of incidents, with any team or any referee, that fit this pattern,” he commented on Canal 11.

Another play reviewed on the program was the action that led to Casa Pia’s 2-2 goal, already in stoppage time, after a loss of possession by Richard Ríos, who remained on the pitch complaining of pain.

“It’s a situation where there are players asking for a foul, but without reason. It’s a legal tackle. You can clearly see that the player touches only the ball. He does not run over the opponent. The incident is very well assessed by the referee and by the VAR. I just want to remind everyone that all goal-scoring incidents are reviewed from the start of the attacking phase,” Duarte Gomes explained.

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