VAR, absent during the group stage of Euro Espoirs 2023 in Georgia and Romania, will be introduced in the final stages, from the quarters, UEFA confirmed on Friday. The day before, during France-Italy, in group D, an Italian goal very probably valid, scored at the end of the match, was not validated by the referee of the match, the Dutchman Allard Lindhout, provoking the anger of the ‘Azzurrini’, who would then have equalized at 2-2. On a header from Raoul Bellanova (Inter Milan), Lyonnais Castello Lukeba pushed back a ball that seemed to have crossed the line.

The transalpine press revealed, in the middle of the day, that because of this obvious refereeing error, UEFA had decided to reintroduce video assistance from the quarter-finals of the competition. What the European body tempered with AFP, while confirming the information. UEFA will introduce VAR during the qualifying rounds of its European club cups this summer, “in the Champions League for all qualifying rounds, from the third qualifying round of the Europa League, and from the play-offs of the Europa League Conference”.

“Due to the considerable logistical requirements of these projects, it was decided that the implementation of VAR for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship would start from the quarter-finals,” he explains. -she, specifying that the entire 2021 edition of Euro Espoirs had taken place without video assistance.

The action of the goal removed by Castello Lukeba (92nd minute) added to a series of game facts often in favor of the Lille goalkeeper’s teammates, including a hand in the unwhistled surface of Milanese Pierre Kalulu.

“Honestly, it is possible that he returned. We don’t have a precise angle to see, but it’s frankly possible […] My first instinct is to look at the referee, and I see that he doesn’t flinch (laughs). We knew there was no VAR, but I thought that if not, there might be goal line technology. She’s not there either. So after five seconds, I know he can’t go back. So much the better, we are not going to spit on it, but maybe if we had been in the place of the Italians, we would have caused a scandal, ”satisfied the 21-year-old doorman at the microphone of RMC Sport.

The young French people who won 2-1 thanks to Arnaud Kalimuendo and Bradley Barcola against Italy to start their tournament, will face Norway for their second match of the competition in group D.