The feeling of injustice predominates on the continent. The day after its draw against Newcastle (1-1), PSG made the headlines in the European press. In England, for example, a large majority of tabloids agreed to describe “ashamed”, “disgusting” and even “disgusting”, the penalty awarded to the Ile-de-France residents in the very last moments of the match. Luis Enrique’s players will not blame referee Szymon Marciniak for consulting VAR and reversing his decision. Because thanks to this penalty transformed by Kylian Mbappé in the 90+8th minute, the Parisians are second in their group this Wednesday. A godsend, given what seemed to be taking shape (Paris would be third in the event of a defeat). However, this fact of the match is not without consequences, particularly for the refereeing body in charge of the match.
Appointed to officiate again during the match between Real Sociedad and RB Salzburg this Wednesday in the Champions League, the VAR referee of PSG-Newcastle, Tomasz Kwiatkowski, will finally have to give up his duties and give up his place to the German Marco Fritz. Indeed, UEFA suspended him as reported Mundo Deportivo in the morning, although the European body has not communicated on this subject. A radical sentence to say the least, a source of questions, but which can be explained by several reasons. Obviously, the crux of the problem lies in this decision to have called on Marciniak in the 90 + 8th minute, while his prior requests to the main referee (in particular for the possible penalty on Hakimi (69th), before he does not notify his counterpart of any illicit gesture), had already delayed the meeting and resulted in these 8 minutes of added time. Additional minutes that should never have been granted in normal times, at least not to these extents.
Lewis Miley’s action embarrasses him
Another element which put Polish referee Tomasz Kwiatkowski at odds with UEFA: his choice not to call on his counterpart a few moments earlier (in the 71st minute) for a situation that was almost similar. Inadvertently, young Lewis Miley had seen the ball ricochet off his arm, after initially hitting his knee. But as the regulations point out, the penalty is not necessarily whistleable, provided that the ball has touched another surface of the player’s body beforehand. The choice not to call on Marciniak on this action was therefore judicious, but to the extent that the situation was almost a copy and paste of that leading to the penalty awarded, his judgment lost credibility.
The decisive nature of this final decision also weighed. Without this match fact, Newcastle would be second and would have their destiny in their hands. Quite the opposite of PSG which was in an uncomfortable position (3rd in the group with one day remaining) and which finally found itself 2nd this Wednesday. Furthermore, UEFA also had to take the context into account before making the decision to exclude Tomasz Kwiatkowski for the match between Real Sociedad and Salzburg this Wednesday. The psychological aspect is something to take into consideration and the pressure the referee has suffered since yesterday in the European media, particularly from former colleagues who did not hesitate to point out his error like the former referee Mark Clattenburg, do not put him in the best conditions. Especially since the European football body has been striving for years to defend its men in yellow. Because yes, refereeing is a physical and mental activity.
