After Ajax’s 2-2 draw against Benfica in the eighth final of the Champions League, Sjoerd Mossou takes a moment to reflect on the South American players of the Amsterdam club. The football reporter sees that Antony, Lisandro Martínez and Edson Álvarez very often push the boundaries of arbitration. Mossou refers to the light headbutt that Antony gave Darwin in the final phase, which went down quite theatrically. The wing attacker of Ajax seemed to get away with the yellow card in Lisbon.
“Those South Americans from Ajax, that has happened several times this season, with Álvarez and Martínez”, Mossou opens in football talk from ESPN† “They succeed in kicking or handing out headbutts, exactly within the margins of what the referees think or not think is a red card. That is quite clever somewhere. They then take a kind of dark the Dutch card and that is always just yellow.” Hans Kraay junior joins in right away. “So that’s actually a bit: those South Americans go shopping with the woman and they steal a march?” says the analyst-cum-reporter with a joke.
Antony gets into a fight with his direct opponent Darwin Nunez and pushes him with his head to the ground. The Brazilian gets a yellow card for it. Justifiably? #UCL #BENAJA pic.twitter.com/ykew19QBN1
— VTBL ? (@vtbl) February 23, 2022
Mossou continues his analysis. “I don’t know whether that is allowed, but where the management does not know well what cross-border is, they know exactly. They stay exactly on the border.” Presenter Pascal Kamperman asks Mossou whether he assumes that the South Americans at Ajax consciously work calculated during matches. “No, it was super stupid (Antony’s headbutt, ed.), but it is striking that it always remains just within the margin, apparently not to get a red card. Also with the assessment of the VAR.” Kraay junior then asks Mossou if he thought it was a red card for Antony after the incident with Darwin in the final minutes.
“This is such a case, it used to be red. Now, according to the rules, it’s about how hard you hit it or not,” said the journalist of the General Newspaper† “It’s very simple, after all. We don’t have to make everything more difficult. It’s either a headbutt and red or it is not a headbutt. But yellow, is that half a headbutt?”, Kraay junior wonders aloud. “So that’s exactly the problem with those rules,” Mossou replied. “It used to be very clear: after kicking or headbutting always red. And now there is a kind of gray area.” Table companion Marciano Vink mentions a ‘head wipe’ by Antony against Benfica. “It is very stupid of him and it is either red or nothing. Well, then I think this is nothing”, concludes Kraay junior.
Only one Ajax player really played a top match in Lisbon
Read here which score Antony receives from Voetbalzone for his performance against Benfica.