Referee Dennis Higler maintains that Edson Álvarez did not deserve a red card for the slap he dealt to the back of FC Twente midfielder Michal Sadílek on Sunday afternoon. The Mexican’s action went unpunished and afterwards the arbiter explained why he did not send the Ajax player off the field with a red card. Higler also discussed the yellow card from Davy Klaassen, who hit his opponent Giovanni Troupée in the face with a swinging arm in the first half.
After more than fifteen minutes of play Klaassen hit Troupée in the face. “I look straight into Klaassen’s moment,” Higler responded to Sunday afternoon after the game ESPN. “Klaassen and Troupée sit together for a while. Klaassen waves his arm a bit, like: go away you. He actually makes him quite unhappy, I don’t think he intends to, in his face either. But an arm in the face, that doesn’t belong on a football field, so a yellow card.”
According to the reporter, it was a game in which the players sometimes tried to make it a bit more than it actually was. “Yes, that’s right, we’ve seen a number of moments and it’s nice that the VAR checks that and gives feedback. For example, a moment when Martínez gets a hand in his face and tries to make more of it. Sometimes they try to make more of it and that doesn’t always make it easy, but that’s part of our profession.”
Álvarez provided the most talked about moment in the first half. He slapped Sadílek in the back of Higler. “The VAR checks that, because there is a player on the ground and that is then checked. The moment it is a possible red card, the VAR will call me. We just saw it together and for me it’s more of a push, with a bit of the arm, maybe a bit of a hand. But not with enough power, so it’s definitely not a red card for me. A stroke must be strong, there is often much more speed in it than the moment we have just seen. If I would have seen this on the field, I would have given a yellow card.”
The moment when Álvarez slaps Sadílek
Higler is asked whether a pedaling movement or tap should also have force. “Sometimes you have those half ticks, I call that irritating behaviour. We don’t want that, but there is a difference between handing out a little bit or really stepping on someone with your studs,” said Higler, who understands that this incident is difficult to explain with a view to setting an example for the youth. “I understand very well. If I had done this on the amateur field in the past, it would probably have been a fight together. I fully understand that it is not very useful in terms of exemplary function, but we do have to deal with the rules of the game.”