Sunday, April 25, 2021 at 2:55 PM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 14:57

Kenneth Perez is certainly not a fan of the VAR. According to the analyst, the use of the video referee ‘takes the soul out of football’. Perez refers to the studio on Sunday afternoon ESPN to the rejected goal by Eran Zahavi on behalf of PSV against FC Groningen (1-0). The attacker ran away cheering, but after consultation with the VAR, referee Jeroen Manschot rejected the goal. The ball had already passed the end line at the cross of Denzel Dumfries.

“That postponed cheering actually takes the soul out of football”, Perez judges without hesitation. “That’s what Zahavi actually said, that’s what really takes the soul out of football. The Super League is now gone, but this really takes the soul out. That you have to cheer modestly.” The analyst puts forward a possible problem: “We have had no supporters for a while. But if there are supporters again, who are going crazy. Sorry, but there was a little finger offside.” Fellow analyst Ronald de Boer agrees with Perez’s view.

“A good example was then with Manchester City, when Raheem Sterling scored and 60,000 people thought they were in the semi-finals”, De Boer refers in his analysis to the duel in the quarter finals of the Champions League with Tottenham Hotspur in the 2018/19 season. . The Citizens seemed at the time to make the liberating 5-3 well into injury time, but after a check at the VAR, the hit was canceled. Tottenham therefore qualified for the semi-final battle against Ajax and not the heavily disappointed Manchester City.

Zahavi spoke on Saturday evening after the minimal victory over Groningen about cheering after his ultimately rejected goal. “It’s very unfortunate,” it said in conversation The Telegraph. “As a striker it gives you a very bad feeling, because you celebrate it like crazy and afterwards you feel stupid too.” The PSV striker would like to see the VAR work differently from now on. “I like the old-fashioned rule more, with an advantage for the attacking teams. Today there were again fans in the stadium and they also want to be entertained. The more goals everyone sees, the happier they are.”