Pundit View: Savage believes Arsenal should have had a penalty in Europa League final
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Former Newcastle midfielder and current BT Sport pundit Robbie Savage believes that Arsenal should have been awarded a penalty in the 18th minute of the Europa League final, as quoted by the Daily Mail.
What’s he said?
A fiercely contested opening period in Baku saw both sides struggle to create clear-cut chances until Alexandre Lacazette found himself running through on goal just past the quarter-hour mark.
Kepa Arrizabalaga rushed off his line to greet the Arsenal striker who appeared to poke the ball before going down under the Chelsea ‘keeper’s diving challenge.
Referee Gianluca Rocchi quickly halted play to check with VAR before allowing the Blues to restart with a goal-kick.
Despite the VAR confirmation of the original no-penalty decision, Savage still felt the referee was incorrect and didn’t hold back during BT Sport’s live commentary.
The former Wales international said: “I thought that was a penalty. I thought Kepa come out, rash, with pace, and if you watch it his head actually catches Lacazette, Lacazette goes over. For me that is a penalty.”
Danger to the game
Savage’s analysis of the potentially decisive moment is not totally wide of the mark, but his words set a very dangerous precedent. He is correct in saying that Kepa rashly emerged from his line and he is also correct that there appears to be a slight touch from the Chelsea man on the Arsenal striker.
According to FIFA’s Laws of the Game, contact in and of itself does not equal a foul, instead, a foul should be awarded when a player “trips or attempts to trip” an opponent.
In full speed, Kepa clearly doesn’t trip or attempt to trip Lacazette. The goalkeeper comes for the ball, makes an attempt to win the ball, and slightly touches the Frenchman who goes down.
In normal speed, the “contact” looks nowhere near enough to award a penalty, but with the use of slow motion, that opinion tends to change. This is where the dangerous precedent comes into play.
The reality is that anywhere else on the pitch and without the benefit of dozens of slowed down replays, Kepa’s innocuous touch wouldn’t have received a second thought.
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In the penalty box, however, every incident is under increased scrutiny with VAR highlighting tiny amounts of contact that seem more serious when zoomed in and slowed down.
Football is at a dangerous crossroads where every minute touch in the box is being seen as a penalty due to the increased scrutinisation of VAR replays. VAR often makes these slight touches seem crucial and Savage was seduced into that trap.
Fortunately, Rocchi remained firm and allowed the game to progress avoiding a dangerous precedent to the rest of the football world that every slight impediment can now be a foul due to VAR’s magnified lens on any use of contact.