Felice Mazzu, now at the helm of Louvain, faced his first setback in a match against his former club, Sint-Truiden. While acknowledging his team’s sluggish start, Mazzu also voiced strong reservations about a penalty decision awarded to Sint-Truiden after VAR review.
The reunion between Felice Mazzu and his old stomping grounds, Sint-Trond, didn’t go as planned for Louvain. After a promising start to his tenure with the University team, securing victories in his first three matches, this encounter marked his initial defeat. Despite creating several promising scoring opportunities, Louvain found themselves down 0-2 by halftime.
“I’m frustrated by our start to the match,” Mazzu admitted in a post-game interview. “In the previous match, we played poorly in the first half but managed to turn things around after the break. Today,our first 30 minutes were bad,and we conceded two goals. Well, one sure goal. As this penalty…” he lamented.
Mazzu questioned the VAR’s decision to intervene for a tackle by Oscar Gil, which involved contact with the ball by his hand. We really need to review the rules,
Mazzu stated, expressing his confusion. He elaborated on the difficulty of the situation, drawing an analogy to the challenges faced by players on the field: If you are at full speed and you are tackling, how do you prevent the ball from hitting the arm? What should you do with your arms?
He even humorously suggested consulting with former high-level players like Wouter Vrancken for insight.
A Penalty Decision sparks Debate
the Sint-Truiden coach, Wouter Vrancken, echoed Mazzu’s sentiments, acknowledging the unusual nature of the penalty call. I agree with what my colleague says. As a football fan, it’s not nice to see a penalty awarded in this way,
Vrancken commented. He added a touch of pragmatism, Let’s say that at least they follow a guideline and continue to apply it.
Despite the controversial call, Mazzu highlighted his team’s resilience in the second half. We reacted well in the second half, but unfortunately, we didn’t manage to score again,
he said. It wasn’t a mentality problem, but we definitely need to start the games better.
Louvain battled until the end against an remarkable Sint-Trond side, who are now firmly in the top four, just one point behind Anderlecht. Their upcoming schedule remains challenging,with an away fixture against Genk followed by a home match against Club Brugge in the Belgian Cup.
