Two days after the victory of the Marseillais at Roazhon Park as part of the 17e day of Ligue 1 (1-2), the refereeing management decided to make amends. During this meeting, in fact, the Rennais obtained a penalty – repelled by the Marseille goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli against Arnaud Kalimuendo – which should never have been whistled.
In the action of the controversy, the ball fell into the area on the hand of Amir Murillo while the latter was in an aerial duel with Hans Hateboer. And if the referee of the game, Mr. Kherradji, found nothing wrong with it at the time, the video assistance led by Mr. Gaillouste invited him to observe the VAR images, thus encouraging him to to recognize an error, therefore to designate the penalty point.
“The viewing at the edge of the field and the penalty were not expected”
“ Contact between the hand and the ball occurs while the defender’s arm comes down naturally after the aerial duel, without the defender taking any risksnoted this Monday the arbitration management in its weekly report. In accordance with the Laws of the Game, the position of the arm at the time of contact can therefore be considered to be a consequence of the movement of the defender’s body in this specific situation. The viewing at the edge of the field and the penalty were therefore not expected. »
According to this same report, Mr. Kherradji, on the other hand, made the right decision by canceling the penalty that he had initially awarded to OM for a handball in the area by Albert Gronbaek. “ The images clearly show that the Rennes player is trying to protect himself from the ball, by folding both arms over his torso. This gesture by the defender does not generate any artificial increase in the surface area covered by his body. Even if the contact between the arm and the ball exists, it is not illegal within the meaning of the Laws of the Game. The video referee therefore intervened wisely and the referee corrected his decision lucidly. », concludes the arbitration department.
