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#4 Avoidable refereeing errors show just how vital video refereeing is for the future of football
Yes, it seemed at first glance to be a blantant refereeing error, but he really shoudn’t have been forced to make the decision in the first place. Bayern were punished for their impetousness, just as they were in the first leg – the ultimate big-game club showing incredibly poor big-game mentality as Arturo Vidal went flying in on Marco Asensio despite being on a caution.
At one point in the game you could see Thiago Alcantara and Xabi Alonso implore with the fesity Chilean – “please, control your temper, these guys will make full use of it” (or something to that effect), but as with Javi Martinez last week, it seems to have paid no dividend.
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While Vidal’ssecond yellow is debatable (slow motion replays do show that the Chilean got his man first, and not the ball) , it is an entirely different case that there were a number of calls that went Real Madrid’s way – Casemiro not getting a second yellow despite doing enough to recieve four, Lewandowski being called offside when he was in fact a foot on, Cristiano Ronaldo being given on side when he was, in fact, three feet off... while some of these decisions may not have changed if there had been more technological assistance for the men in the middle – that second Ronaldo goal would certainly not have stood the test of a video replay.
As our very own Rohith Nair has previously pointed out, the usage of video technology and altering, indeed correcting, decisions via replays doesn’t just NOT hamper the game, it enhances the experience. Because, nobody likes it when errors lead to crucial course-of-the-match altering decisions.
If a footballing season that has been marred with base refereeing errors shows anything, it is that for the sport to retain credibility with an increasingly critical audience, the men in the middle need all the help they can get – and any avoidable mistakes should... well... be avoided.
