Cristian Stellini has taken us through the process of Hakim Ziyech being shown a red card only to have it rescinded in today’s Tottenham vs. Chelsea match.
The first-half flashpoint in the London Derby occurred when Ziyech fouled Richarlison on the ball, resulting in a scuffle between the two sets of players.
Not helping the situation, Emerson Royal decided to come bowling in and barged Ziyech out of the way, to which the Chelsea player seemingly attempted to plant a shove on the shoulder of the Spurs wing-back.
However, Ziyech’s hand only grazed the top of Emerson’s shoulder and proceeded to connect with his face instead. After seemingly taking advice from the VAR, the referee decided to hand Ziyech a red card for the incident.
Despite this, he still went to check the monitor and then came to the conclusion that it was not violent conduct from the winger, and thus rescinded the sending-off.
Stellini has now taken us through the process from a manager’s point of view.
He explained (Football London): “Immediately when it happened, for me it was clear the referee needed to give him a red card but the referee was so good to explain immediately and the fourth official as well what happened on the pitch and why they needed time to take the right decision.
“They needed time because they first needed to understand who was the player. VAR helped find out who was the player who pushed Emerson. Also for the referee, it was a red card.
“Then VAR calls him back again to say to check if it was violent or not and the referee went to the screen to check this and he decided it was not violent.”
Asked if he thought the correct decision was made, Stellini added: “No, I have not seen it. For me, it is fine what the referee decided because he went to the screen.
“Many times we discuss the referee not using the screen and the VAR is not involved. We are not lucky because every time the VAR is involved, it is against us and not in our favor but this is only about luck, not about what happened on the pitch.
“I am happy because the referee was good to explain us and keeping everyone calm.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
Once again, VAR is not the problem, but the way it is used definitely is. I’m sure the referees went by the book, but would it not make more sense to just send the referee to the monitor in the first 30 seconds to make a decision? No one knew what was going on today and it was a little embarrassing.
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