Article by Tudor Belivacă – Published Tuesday, January 27, 2026 21:42 / Updated Tuesday, January 27, 2026 21:52
Marius Avram (46 years old), former referee and arbitration expert, commented the controversial phase FROM Ato – Rapidscore 1-2, in a match of stage #23 of the Superliga.
Marius Avram conveyed the fact that Sebastian Colțescu erroneously awarded a penalty at the stage when Pospelov was considered to have committed a handball in his own box. How did the former referee explain?
Marius Avam explained that a penalty should not have been awarded because Pospelov tried to reduce the area of his body, pulling his hand towards his body, when the shot sent by Christensen hit him in the right palm in the 40th minute of the match.
Marius Avram reacted after the penalty awarded to Rapid in the match against UTA: “The player's intention at this stage is to reduce the surface of his body”
The former referee conveyed the fact that “according to the new directives from UEFA, contact with the hand that prevents the shot on goal should be more severe, and in most cases, a shot from 11 meters should be awarded, unless the defender's arm is very close or touches the cover”, according to digisport.ro.
“Colțescu awards a penalty, then he is called by Dima to review the phase. He sees it and remains consistent with the decision made on the field. We see a player who is facing the opponent, sees him shoot and tries to avoid it. With one hand he succeeds, with the other he almost succeeded. He hits the ball in his hand when he almost had it stuck to his body.
The player's intention in this phase is to reduce their body surface area. He tries to instinctively pull his hands towards his body. Not to distance, but to bring closer. He has his hand very close to his body at the time of contact with the ball.
If he was heading towards the goal, if he stopped the scoring of a goal it was a penalty. When shooting at goal we have very clear instructions. We cannot say that it is clearly empty. The goalkeeper was in goal, two defenders behind. The hand in which the ball hits him is almost stuck,” said Marius Avram, according to the quoted source.
Alex Dobre scored from the penalty spot in the 41st minute, after Marius Coman opened the scoring for the Aradans in the 19th minute. Leo Bolgado scored the three-point goal for the Giulești in the 79th minute. With this victory, Rapid climbed to 2nd place in the Superliga standings, with 45 points accumulated in 23 games, just one point away from the leader Universitatea Craiova.
