Hjulmand goal? Expert explains why Sporting were awarded the corner | OneFootball

The play that led to Morten Hjulmand’s goal in the Santa Clara - Sporting match continues to be a topic of conversation. Now, Venâncio Tomé, former assistant referee, has come forward to publicly explain the two reasons why Ângelo Carneiro may have made this decision: the condition of the pitch and fatigue.

“It’s not easy to explain the incident, even though it seems so on television. There was a bounce of the ball on the grass. The assistant may have perceived that there were two touches, one by the attacker and another by the defender. And there were two touches, one on the grass and another on the attacker’s shin. That misled him. He may have thought the second touch was by the defender. I tried to see if he was behind the play, but honestly, I couldn’t tell. The direction the ball takes can sometimes be deceiving and, in this case, it came straight off the shin of the Sporting player,” he began by saying, in statements to the newspaper Record.

However, the former AF Setúbal referee was unable to intervene: “VAR can only intervene in four situations: red card, mistaken identity, penalties, and possible irregularities in goal situations,” in addition to considering that accumulated fatigue during the match can affect “concentration and decision-making,” noting that even “players make worse decisions” in the final moments of matches.

With the victory in the Azores – the 13th in 18 matches this season – the team led by Rui Borges now has 28 points and sits in second place in the Liga Portugal Betclic standings. Porto (31) is in first place, while Benfica rounds out the podium (25).

The green and white team will only return to the field on Saturday, November 22, against Marinhense. The match, part of the fourth round of the Portuguese Cup, against the team led by Rui Sacramento, will be played at 18:00 in Alvalade.

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