Leeds United lost its star player Raphinha on Saturday afternoon. The attacker, who is in top form this season, was kicked full on the ankle by Romain Saïss against Wolverhampton Wanderers (1-1). To the surprise of many in England, referee Robert Jones and the VAR on duty decided to let the defender of the Wolves not give a card.
In the 52nd minute of the game, Raphinha handily tapped the ball past Saiss, who had already started his tackle. The Moroccan international was therefore unable to reach the ball at all and landed full on Raphinha’s lower leg. The ankle of the brand new Brazilian international, who impressed with two goals against Uruguay last week, completely doubled.
The Raphinha injury looks worse and worse every time you see it. Saiss nowhere near the ball and ref gave the freekick and yellow card for the handball not the tackle. Surely VAR should have been looking at that again.#lufc pic.twitter.com/rZ2mKgLxkT
— Andrew Haigh? (@AndrewHaigh) October 23, 2021
To the fury of the Leeds players, referee Jones refused medical treatment, forcing Raphinha to stumble onto the sidelines on his own. The Leeds attacker asked the referee to look at the footage from the sidelines, but found no response. Saïss got away with the violation, but was still booked for comments on the arbitration.
Bee Sky Sports Former defender Michael Dawson reacts with surprise. “When you see it in slow motion, you see how terrible the violation is,” said the analyst. “This is very worrying for Raphinha and Leeds as it is at least a sprained ankle. We’ll see how long he is out.”