In the Coupe de France, referees are not entitled to VAR assistance before the quarter-finals. And it was felt Wednesday evening at the Stade Vélodrome despite the good refereeing of François Letexier. Some contentious decisions could indeed have been corrected with the use of video. We only played the second minute of the match when the Moroccan side of PSG Achraf Hakimi countered a center from Marseille Sead Kolasinac. Instantly, the Marseillais raised their arms to the sky to claim a penalty, but the referee did not flinch.
In slow motion, however, we could clearly see the Moroccan pushing back the Marseille center with his right elbow while pivoting on himself. A little later, OM were rewarded by the referee with a… penalty for a foul near the surface by Sergio Ramos on the Turkish Cengiz Ünder. This time, the use of the video would have confirmed the referee’s decision. The sentence was transformed without trembling by Alexis Sanchez (31st), who took Gianluigi Donnarumma on the wrong foot to give the advantage to the Marseille club in an incandescent Stade Vélodrome.
In the 54th minute, the referee stopped a counter-attack from Ünder, who was heading for goal alone. But there was no offside, the Turk being covered by Ramos.
The corner would not have been invalidated
But a third case will be debated. Messi’s strike that drives the corner from Ramos’ equalizer went untouched by Rongier. So there was no corner… But in this specific case, video assistance would not have changed anything, since this kind of error in judgment does not fit into the cases studied by video, which focuses on goals and fouls in the area. Whistled by the referee, the corner was taken by Neymar and allowed PSG to get back into the game.
In the Coupe de France, the VAR is only used from the quarter-finals so as not to create disparities during the first rounds between amateur clubs, whose stadiums are not necessarily equipped to receive technical equipment, and professional .
