Mark van Bommel was critical of the arbitration and VAR after yet another blow from Royal Antwerp in the group stage of the Champions League. According to the trainer in Belgian service, his team should have received a penalty and referee Bartosz Frankowski very easily gave yellow cards to his players. Antwerp lost for the fifth time in a row in the billion-dollar ball, this time to Shakhtar Donetsk (1-0).
“Yes, I haven’t even said anything about the arbitration yet,” Van Bommel was quoted by, among others, at the press conference afterwards. The newspapaer. “The referee gave two of our players (Soumaïla Coulibaly and Gyrano Kerk, ed.) yellow for an alleged elbow, but not their captain for a mistake that I have made 25 times in my career and for which I have been booked 25 times got.”
“And with Vincent (Janssen, ed.) I thought it was a penalty, yes,” sighed the Antwerp coach, who did not see a foul on the Dutch attacker in the box punished with a penalty. “They also committed a handball in the sixteen during a corner.”
Van Bommel did not just let the subject rest during the press meeting afterwards. “Who was actually VAR? I wonder what they see. Just tell me.” The Ukrainian interpreter was unsure whether to translate the coach’s words, but after some hesitation she did it anyway.
“I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but it is something that is alive. Who is behind that screen? Are they capable enough? Do they understand football?” Van Bommel is critical of the contribution of Marco Fritz, the VAR of service against Shakhtar.
“They are not the reason we lost, but every now and then I still ask myself questions. What should we do? Abolish VAR? Make a big deal of it, boys,” the former PSV coach concluded with a quip. .
0 out of 5
Antwerp’s adventure in the Champions League is certainly not a success. The Belgian champion is at the bottom of group H, with zero points from five games. Antwerp scored only three times and conceded fifteen goals. The group stage ends in December with a home match against Barcelona.