Accusations after CFR Cluj – U Cluj: “Kovacs put his hand in his pocket and they told him from VAR not to give it to him!”

Karlo Muhar slid in on Dan Nistor and referee Szabolcs Kovacs appeared determined to issue a yellow card. In the context in which the CFR midfielder had already been warned in the 52nd minute, the sanction would have meant elimination.

However, the decision did not come. The center stopped at the last moment and gave up taking out the card, to the total displeasure of the Cluj University players. Dan Nistor protested vehemently. Cătălin Popa and Lucian Rusandu were in the VAR room.

Iulian Cristea, after CFR Cluj – U Cluj 1-0: “I tell the VAR not to give the second goal”

At the end of the game, Iulian Cristea, the defender of the formation prepared by Cristiano Bergodi, commented on both the result and the controversial phase of the second half.

“I gave my life on the field, it was a difficult match, I knew that, but unfortunately a penalty that is given. In Muhar, the phase is strange. Kovacs puts his hand in his pocket and the VAR people tell him not to give it, I mean, I know that that's not why the VAR intervenes, I don't understand. How is this possible? He sat and thought he was giving him the second yellow and he didn't give it again.

I think he was told from the headset, I don't think he thought “wait, I'll give the second one”. I didn't talk to Alex (No. Chipciu) if anything was explained to him, but maybe he knows more. It's a result that hurts us, especially for the fans.

We hope this time it won't affect us, we have two home games waiting for us. We hope it will be the last failure of this season, we have to give our best and at the end draw the line, see what we have achieved this season. Yes, fatigue was also felt for the boys who also played in the Cup, but I think we lived up to expectations, it's a shame about the result.”

Cristea also spoke about the absence of Jovo Lukic, injured during the warm-up, considering him an important loss for the team.

“It's not an easy loss. Lukic is the top scorer of the championship, he's our goal striker. We have a good, numerous, solid batch and I say that, whoever was missing, we managed to finish it. Now I failed. I mean, we got good results, we were there too and we are still here. Maybe tonight he could do more, but we don't know that. But yes, being the goalscorer, it's a loss.”

When VAR can intervene

According to the official introduction, the VAR system is used to correct “clear and obvious errors”, but its interventions are limited to four situations:

• validation of goals (offside, attacking foul, ball out of bounds)

• penalty decisions

• direct red cards

• misidentification of sanctioned players

Thus, in the case of the phase with Muhar, the video referee had no possibility to intervene, even if the awarding of a second yellow card would have led to the elimination.

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