Giovani Lo Celso was NOT sent off against Chelsea on Saturday because the VAR took too long to find him guilty of stamping on Cesar Azpilicueta.
Lo Celso planted his foot onto the Chelsea skipper’s ankle in what looked to some like an accident resulting from a mistimed attempted backheel.
But many others saw it as a deliberate act which endangered the safety of an opponent.
On-field referee Michael Oliver originally deemed that Lo Celso’s action was not even worthy of a caution. And after a lengthy VAR review, that decision stood.
But before the end of the game, it was announced by Premier League officials that the VAR had made a mistake and Lo Celso SHOULD have been sent off.
This statement sent football fans and pundits into meltdown. Chelsea fans were among the most furious, but many Arsenal supporters also seemed irked on Twitter.
Rival fan fury increased when it was claimed that Lo Celso will not face a ban.
As reported by Sky Sports, Lo Celso will not face retrospective action due to PGMOL rules, which claim players will only be punished after the fact when incidents are “not captured by the match officials or VAR”. As this incident was looked at and dealt with at the time – albeit apparently wrongly – the case is deemed to be close.
That hasn’t gone down well with these Chelsea and Arsenal fans:
VAR isn’t the problem,it’s the people using it.The guy who ruled no red was a rookie referee,who was later acknowledged by his officials to have made an error and who then went on to officiate in the later match.Will he be sanctioned by the FA,I doubt it.