Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri: Football won't be a sport anymore with VAR
:focal(179x135:181x133)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2015/03/26/1443595-30868867-310-310.jpg)
Updated 02/10/2017 at 08:06 GMT
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri has warned that the use of VAR threatens to compromise football’s status as a sport.
Juventus FC coach Massimiliano Allegri looks on before the Serie A match between Atalanta BC and Juventus
Image credit: Getty Images
Juventus were involved in two VAR incidents in their 2-2 draw against Atalanta at the weekend, seeing a Mario Mandzukic goal ruled out when referee Antonio Damato reviewed footage and saw Stephan Lichtsteiner elbow an opponent.
Juve were also awarded a penalty, which Paulo Dybala failed to convert, when an incident was reviewed and Atalanta’s Andrea Petanga was adjudged to have handballed, even though there was a suspicion that it hit his shoulder.
Allegri says the use of VAR has the potentially to seriously disrupt matches and believes the use of technology should be scaled down. He said:
If we want football to be a sport that is no longer a sport, then use VAR on every incident. However, if we get to March where every point becomes decisive, then games can last three or four hours. In my view, technology should only be used on objective situations — offside, in or out of the box, over the line or not — but when it comes to subjective situations, people are never going to agree. That's sport.
Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini also took issue with the two decisions which had been aided by VAR use.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2017/10/02/2179082-45539050-2560-1440.jpg)
Mario Mandzukic of Juventus FC gestures
Image credit: Getty Images
"The referee gave a yellow card to Lichtsteiner, but if he had given red there would've been no scandal,” he said.
If Petagna got it with his arm, it is undoubtedly a penalty. The sensation I got was that he lifted his arm, but struck the ball with his shoulder. The movement of the arm certainly made it look worse than it really was. The referee gave a penalty straight away, the VAR officials called to advise him to look again and he remained firm on his idea. At that point, you just have to accept decisions. It's an odd situation, some might say it was handball, some might not, there's never going to be one final agreement between everyone. VAR has fixed a lot of situations, but it won't fix everything.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement