The meeting between River y Velez for the second leg of the round of 16 of the Libertadores Cup brought endless suspicions that put the role of technology in football on the table. With the result in zero and the latent possibility – which was later defined – of Fortín accessing the next phase for the victory in the first leg, the Millionaire starred in a dangerous situation that ended in the goal of Matias Suarez after a cross from the attacker Exequiel Boat.
Once Suárez won the mark against Francis Ortegadefender of Velezat the second post, he only prepared to head the ball against a Lucas Hoyos already down. After the festivities, where he hugged Julian Alvarezthe man from Cordoba carefully observed the referee’s signal Robert Tobarwho decided to go to WAS after the call of his colleagues in the room BEFORE.
At that precise moment the controversy was registered. The referee reported that Suarez he deflected the direction of the ball with his hand and therefore proceeded not to validate the goal. Precisely Tobar, who was at the center of the controversy during the night of Núñez, spoke, via WhatsAppwith the journalist Mariano Closs (F12ESPN).
The renowned rapporteur interrupted the analysis of his panel to present the word of the Chilean referee, one of the most sought after people in the sports environment. “Dear Mariano, a pleasure to greet you,” he started, before the silence of the other journalists who wanted to hear the testimony.
“After reviewing the images over and over again, I see a contact that does not leave me sure to cancel the goal. At that moment I felt that another appreciation from another member of my field companions was important, for which I call on Claudio Rios (line judge) so that he can also check him and give me his opinion free of any communication that I had with the VAR, ”he said. Tobar about the controversial move that ended up sentencing the future of River in the South American competition.
Amid the revelry in the stands, Tobar, not entirely sure of a crucial decision, invited the lineman to give his point of view, which coincided with the appreciation of the VAR, headed by the referees Rafael Traci and Braulio Machado. “Claudio agreed that there is (the hand) after player Suárez’s header, how the ball slips on his forearm entering the goal (arch)”, he added.
With an aggregate result of 1-0, Velez Sarsfield celebrated in a third-party rodeo a historic classification against one of the candidate teams to raise the champion trophy. In Liniers, they wait for Cordoba Workshops in the quarterfinals, which he beat Columbus of Santa Fe. On the Millionaire side, Álvarez played his last game at the institution and will travel to England in the next few hours to join the ranks of the Manchester City.