On Wednesday night at Paris’ Parc des Princes, we saw one of the most significant moments since the introduction of VAR.
Manchester United were minutes away from being dumped out of the UEFA Champions League, but VAR stepped in and the Red Devils made the great escape.
Many will argue about whether Presnel Kimpembe could have avoided the handball that resulted in PSG being eliminated from the last-16 tie in the last minute, but what we cannot deny is that VAR needs to be run by real football people.
Anyone who has actually played the game of football would be able to tell you that Kimpembe could not have moved his body in any other fashion.
He did not deliberately stick his arm out and block the shot. The shot came from a close range, and he turned his body around, essentially no longer facing the ball by the time it actually hit his arm.
(FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)
So you tell me, do you think he deliberately handballed it?
Well, what you and I think means absolutely nothing.
More interesting to me is whether football fans believe that VAR is working.
We have seen it introduced in cup competitions in England, and it is in full swing in the MLS.
It is truly hard to say if it is working and in the space of 48 hours we have seen VAR wreak havoc.
Real Madrid will argue that the ball went out before Ajax went on to score the third goal in their stunning 4-1 upset, although Real Madrid had absolutely no chance of winning anyway.
Both Champions League games were vital and held enormous implications for those who advanced, not just limited to financial rewards.
VAR needs some tweaking. It absolutely ruins counter-attacking football, and say goodbye to quick restarts.
Yet it has been implemented into the game of football so quickly, but the trial and error of it have barely been scratched.
There is so much more work to be done regarding VAR, but I guess we will learn as we go, and the growing pains will be excruciating.
And don’t get started on the length it takes for VAR to finally come to a conclusion, which then results in ridiculously long injury times. It is just modern football.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
VAR and all electronic reviews of decisions suck big time. It does not prevent bad decisions, it just means different people are making howlers and officials are hiding behind the tech. Just this weekend there has been a few howlers with VAR and even then we still have people debating it - still comes down to a personal decision somewhere and potential corruption still exists. And sport was not designed to be adjudicated in slow mo. And we - as a race - are handing our our responsibility to machines, f****ing madness. Cricket ball tracking has proven unreliable, rugby decisions are still woefully wrong. I'd like to see some sport have the guts throw all this out.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
I am under the impression that the people in the box purely alert the referee. If the ref wishes to review, then they do and call accordingly - whether it is wrong or right is another matter!
Waz
Roar Rookie
I think the Man U pen is a poor example - the ref has clearly given the benefit of the doubt to the attacking side which is what we all want surely? What I liked about the way they went about it was the on field ref made the call, not some assistant in a box somewhere. I don’t like VAR but this was a good use of it imo.
Brian
Guest
I've played the game of football albeit at much lower levels unfortunately but the fact is he could and ought to have jumped differently with his arm tucked in behind his body, not flalying away from it. If you watch videos of Cannavaro you'll often see his hands behind his back. Now that's not to say lots of players don't jump like Kimpembe and 99 times out of 100 when it doesn't hit their hand its irrelevant, but you still take the risk when you jump in that fashion. It's exactly why Australia was given a penalty against Denmark at the World Cup. The real issue is whether his arm was so far away as it to be in unnatural position. Now the referee's decision of yes is harsh but its not unfathomable because Kimpembe turns his back on the ball with his arm out and takes the risk of it hitting him. As for VAR it is way better then what we had previously, they'll always be 50-50 calls like the 2 this week but it eliminates the shocking decisions
Redondo
Roar Rookie
That’s a pen nine times out of ten. He was watching the ball in flight and jumped with his arm raised. He only turned at the last moment. The VAR needed tweaking but the A-League did so a few games into this season and has barely rated a mention since. Now it only causes delays when there is a clear issue.
Buddy
Roar Rookie
We have seen both good and bad and (yes) appalling decisions as a result of VAR being introduced but let’s remember that whilst the technology is on hand, it is still the referee who “calls the shots”. In Paris yesterday the VAR operators must have suggestedto the referee that he might like to have a second look atthe incident for which he was awarding a corner. He did so and came to the conclusion that it was a penalty and he needed to change his initial decision. Many of us were left scratching our heads as to how or why; the conspiracy theorists came out of hiding, stories of likely corruption followed and requests to investigate gambling patterns also appeared once more. All unsavoury and subjectsthat tend to bring the game into disrepute. All that is downto the introduction of technology and the inability to make it work well and for the betterment of the game. In this instance, no var around would have seen a corner, possibly no third goal and headlines that screamed “Red Devils heroics fail to conquer Paris” and a fortunate PSG would have been through to the QF of UCL. The board at MUFC may have then viewed the reign of Solskjaer as less than acceptable and would continue their search for the true replacement for Sir Alex. All those outcomes over one small incident in 90 minutes worth of football. Itjust reminds me why I enjoyed the Back To The Future trilogy so much - one small change in the space/time continuum!