The whole thing finally becomes absurd just four days later, same place, same game, different competition. Nordi Mukiele meets Niko Gießelmann on the knee. Unanimous opinion: penalty. At least after looking at the pictures. Denkste: This time it stays the same, referee Schlager does not give a penalty even after looking at the screen. Stunned, not only at Union Berlin.
fairer? No! Confusion? Yes!
Corrected a 50:50 penalty for Leipzig, denied a clear penalty for Union – did the VAR make the games fairer? Answer: clear no! Has it caused a lot of confusion, game lag, frustration and anger? Yes! And this Bundesliga Saturday had even more to offer.
Review Area is also fatal to Freiburg
Freiburg versus Gladbach. Nicolas Höfler takes a straddle and gets the ball in his hand. No penalty, says referee Benjamin Brand. for now. And changes his mind in the review area.
Anyone who has attempted a slide tackle at full speed in their life knows that Höfler’s hand position is not unnatural and therefore not punishable. Even Gladbach’s coach Adi Hütter says: “It’s a natural move by Höfler, nobody can do anything about it”.
Where are we now with VAR making decisions that even the benefitting coach thinks are wrong?
Summit in the top game
The peak of VAR failure in the evening in Munich. Benjamin Pavard clears Jude Bellingham. A foul, no doubt! Video assistant Marco Fritz sees it differently and does not intervene. Referee Daniel Siebert said the following day: “Penalty would have been the right decision.” Particularly grotesque: Siebert doesn’t go out into the review area and doesn’t look at the scene again. Why not, when the referees are now permanent guests on the sidelines? BVB and football Germany remain at a loss.
The VAR arbitrariness is simply no longer understandable.
Even the most important game in world football has already been distorted
The system is unsuitable for football – the 2018 World Cup final proved this, when the VAR was not allowed to correct a joke free-kick for France, but supported France in a 50:50 penalty decision. Can a technique that massively skews the most important game in world football in favor of the underdog really make this sport fairer? Of course not!
“Please give us football back”
The Video Assistant doesn’t solve problems, it just shifts them to another level. Anyone who sees football in all its dynamics knows that you can’t prove what needs to be judged. In the end it almost always remains a matter of interpretation, but in the end there is still a discussion. More than ever in the past five years since VAR was launched. The price that this once wonderfully simple sport pays for this pseudo-justice is immense.
Football wins nothing. And loses so much. Last but not least, the golden, ecstatic moment of the goal celebration, which is no longer as emotional as it used to be because the review area is always looming in the back of your mind.
The VAR failed. Please give us back the factual decision. Please give us back the football we all once fell in love with.