'It was assault': Fans angry after VAR misses Vinicius' karate chop on Thiago Silva
Thiago Silva, Chelsea
Days after courting a massive controversy, the Premier League and Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has come under scanner once again. This time, the VAR (Virtual Assistant Referee) failed to reprimand Fulham's Carlos Vinicius after he landed a karate chop on Chelsea's Thiago Silva during their Monday (October 2) night encounter.
After Chelsea led via two goals from Mykhailo Mudryk and Armando Broja in the first half, Fulham attempted to catch Mauricio Pochettino's side in the second half. However, when centre-back Thiago Silva controlled the ball away from his box, Vinicius came steaming in from behind and karate-chopped his Brazilian counterpart.
He then bizarrely struck Silva on the back of the head with the side of his hand, which prompted the Chelsea backline leader to collapse into a heap. To everyone's surprise, neither the referee intervened nor did the VAR suggest any action, despite replaying the incident multiple times.
Netizens furious
Furious netizens took to X and vented their frustrations with one saying,“It was a red card for Vinicius with that karate chop. F**k VAR, f**k officiating in this country, it’s totally biased and favouritism-based," while another added: “Blatant red card for Vinicius. VAR is a f*****g mess.”
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"VAR check for common assault on Thiago Silva you could get arrested for on a Friday night in UK town centres. Check complete. Nothing given," said a third.
VAR comes under scrutiny
The Premier League officials responsible for the technology have come under intense scrutiny in the past few days after denying Liverpool a clear onside goal in their 2-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspurs.
Down to 10 men, the team from Merseyside took the lead, courtesy of a fabulous finish from Colombian striker Luis Diaz. However, the referee and VAR deemed the goal to be offside, without drawing the usual lines and going through the footage multiple times, as is the norm.
After the match, PGMOL released an apology statement where it recognised that VAR Darren England and his assistant Dan Cook failed to overturn the on-field decision of offside despite carrying out the required procedures.
PGMOL released a statement, accepting the human error by the officials. However, the situation did not go well with Liverpool, who also released a statement to clear their stand.
“We fully accept the pressures that match officials work under but these pressures are supposed to be alleviated, not exacerbated, by the existence and implementation of VAR.
“It is therefore unsatisfactory that sufficient time was not afforded to allow the correct decision to be made and that there was no subsequent intervention."
Since then Liverpool has demanded that the VAR audio be released for complete transparency.
(With inputs from agencies)
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