Duarte Gomes on Benfica penalty vs Casa Pia: the usual pattern | OneFootball

Duarte Gomes explained that the referee should not have awarded a penalty in favor of Casa Pia in the match against Benfica. The former referee and national technical director of refereeing took advantage of his space on Canal 11 to analyze, once again, the controversial incident from the last matchday.

"This incident, for us, is not a penalty kick. There was 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, if he made himself bigger to block his goal, if he deliberately or unconsciously did something extra or was just standing still?" Duarte Gomes began by pointing out.

The former referee continued: "When the ball hits him on the right side of his torso, his hip... he even protects his arm to avoid committing a penalty, to avoid contact with the ball, to protect himself, and then, in an unexpected way, at very close range, the ball glances off during his rotation to the left. For us, this fits the standard of not awarding a penalty kick.

He then also addressed the VAR's action: "Another issue concerns the intervention of the video assistant referee. We have 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. In such incidents, there must be a clear, obvious, and very evident error. For there to be intervention, there cannot be the slightest subjectivity in interpreting whether the referee made a mistake. In this case, especially since there are deflections, as we saw, and then the ball hits the arm, the VAR, based on 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. We disagree with that opinion."

"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 officials of the sports societies, and for the noise this may cause... whether strategically or in terms of program content to attract audiences... all we ask is that you respect our analysis. 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," Duarte Gomes concluded regarding the penalty in the Benfica - Casa Pia match.

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