The action could have caused controversy. If Paris Saint-Germain finally reversed the trend, winning at the end of the penalty shootout against Olympique de Marseille this Thursday during the Champions Trophy (2-2, 4-1 tab), Marquinhos and his partners were victims of a very contentious act of play.
At the start of the last quarter of an hour, while the score was still 1-0 in favor of the Parisians, the referee of the match Thomas Léonard designated the penalty point after an exit from Lucas Chevalier at the feet of Mason Greenwood, who did not fail to take justice into his own hands to put the two teams back to back (1-1, 76th).
Problem: in slow motion, there does not seem to be any contact between the glove of the Ile-de-France goalkeeper and the foot of the Marseille attacker, whose jump in anticipation allowed him to avoid Chevalier’s exit. An opinion shared by Bruno Derrien, former French international referee: “For me this penalty is severe”, he analyzed. “There is a slight contact, he barely touches him, Greenwood plays the game well. At real speed, we have the feeling that the goalkeeper can touch the Marseille attacker but looking back at the images… There is perhaps a little contact with the upper arm but it is very minimal.”
Ramos was not offside
For the man with 350 matches managed at the professional level, “the enthusiasm of Chevalier’s exit may have influenced the referee”. One thing is certain: according to the expert, the VAR made a mistake by considering that Mr. Léonard had not made a manifest error and therefore not inviting him to review the action. “Paris won, it will be less controversial,” concludes Bruno Derrien jokingly, whose analysis echoes that of Alain Roche.
According to the former PSG captain, the fault “can’t be whistled”. “Chevalier had a little hesitation about the penalty which I found severe,” he told us. “I just feel like his hand lightly touches Greenwood’s foot. I would have preferred that the person in charge of VAR called the referee so that he could look at the images. »
Before that, an arbitration dispute had already marred the game, the Parisians being very surprised that Thomas Léonard did not draw a red card to sanction Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, author of a crude tackle at the feet of João Neves, briefly hit in the left ankle before getting up (53rd). The Marseille midfielder ultimately only received a yellow card.
On the other hand, Bruno Derrien confirms that Gonçalo Ramos’ equalizing goal, at the end of added time, was indeed valid. “He is offside at the start of the action, but Bradley Barcola is not and as Ramos is not served directly, he is put back into play when his partner crosses.”
