šØšļø | Wayne Rooney BLASTS the VAR decision Arsenalās overturned penalty vs Atletico Madrid:
āLook, Iāll be honest with you, Iām sitting here in the studio scratching my head. For me, thatās a penalty all day long. I donāt care how many angles you show me on that VAR monitor, thereās contact there, and itās enough to put Eberechi Eze off his stride when heās about to pull the trigger.
The referee gives it on the pitch straight away, so heās seen enough in real time and heās in a good position. Then VAR gets involved, calls him over to the screen, and suddenly theyāre trying to find reasons not to give it. Once a referee goes to that monitor, thereās always pressure to overturn it. But why? Itās not a clear and obvious error. Itās a foul.
Eze gets there first, nicks the ball, and heās been caught. Weāve seen those given plenty of times in this game. If thatās Ademola Lookman going down at the other end, or if it happens in favour of one of the big sides, weāre not even having this conversation. Itās a stonewall penalty and everyone moves on. If it happens at the other end, weād all be screaming for it.
That was Arsenalās golden opportunity. Theyāve worked their socks off tonight, played some cracking football, and earned that chance to win the match from the spot. To have it taken away by someone sat in a booth miles away is gutting for them.
Sometimes VAR tries to be too clever. Itās there to fix obvious mistakes, not re-referee every little bit of contact and second guess decisions. Tonight theyāve got it massively wrong.
You can talk about marginal contact all you want, but at the end of the day, Eberechi Eze has been fouled in the box. Arsenal have been robbed tonight, simple as that. Itās a shambles really.ā