“I long to see the images again…” Failing to criticize Benoît Bastien’s refereeing, Jean-Louis Gasset expressed serious doubts. The Parisians could have done the same. “I never talk about arbitration,” Luis Enrique evaded. Two refereeing decisions made their mark on Sunday evening, during PSG’s 2-0 victory on the field of their best enemy Marseille. Once is not customary, and it is rare enough to be saluted, Benoît Bastien explained on Amazon Prime Video.
The first decision that will get people talking concerns the expulsion of Lucas Beraldo in the 41st minute. Warned in the 15th minute, the Parisian defender pushes Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang aside with his arm, along the sideline at the halfway line. It’s probably worth a second yellow, anti-gambling act. Except that the said Mr. Bastien abstained. “At first I can’t see Beraldo’s arm pushing Aubameyang, I’m masked,” he said. The yellow card was well brandished, but intended for… Lucas Hernandez, for protest. Mr. Bastien was about to restart the match when he put his hand on the headset: he had been called to the video side. The Var at work.
“At first, I was alerted by my assistant who told me that there was a mistake by Beraldo who pushed Mr. Aubameyang. Due to his positioning, he is the best placed to identify this jostling, in the sense of the laws of the game, which causes him to lose his ability to play the action subsequently. Then I am rightly alerted by my video assistant referee because it is a case of a potential red card. After viewing the images, for me, it is obvious that this fault must be punished with the annihilation of a clear scoring opportunity. It is obvious. The number 1 criterion is the position of the defenders able to intervene. At the time of the foul, the dynamics of the action towards depth, the ability of the offensive player to be able to continue the action, control the ball, and the absence of a defender capable of intervening, are the criteria which allow, despite the distance, to say that there is a clear scoring opportunity stopped by the illicit intervention of Mr. Beraldo”, deciphers Benoît Bastien. This notion of distance is very relative. Several Parisians had plenty of time to return…
And Mr. Bastien continued, still on the subject of Lucas Beraldo: “I think, I am convinced at the moment I make the decision that if there is not this fault, there is a clear scoring opportunity. The closest Parisian defender is still on the halfway line when the foul occurs. His distance leads me to the conclusion that he was not capable of intervening.” Of which act. We will still point out that the use of the Var prohibited him from showing a second yellow card. It was red or nothing. Not bringing out the second yellow was undoubtedly a mistake. That doesn’t mean we have to commit another one… In any case, this sequence greatly irritated Luis Campos during the break.
The second hot situation is this goal denied to Jordan Veretout for OM in the 51st minute. Marseille striker Luis Henrique was penalized for an offside position, he who was camped right next to Gigio Donnarumma, the Parisian goalkeeper. “At the time of the strike, Luis Henrique is in a clear offside position. Due to his very close proximity to the Parisian goalkeeper, he necessarily influences his ability to intervene. Consequently, the goal is refused because, according to the laws of the game, a player who influences the ability of an opponent to intervene, his position becomes punishable,” analyzes Benoît Bastien. An action that could have changed everything. “I think it’s debatable… There, it changes the whole match, we equalize, we put them in their 30 meters, we go through the sides… I think we could win it. Hence the fact that there is frustration,” complained Gasset. No Var here. But debates…