The sight of a referee being despatched to the pitchside monitor to overturn a call by the video assistant referee (VAR) is one we have now all change into used to.
So when Joao Pinheiro, who had simply proven Lloyd Kelly a second yellow card for a foul on Baris Yilmaz, drew the acquainted invisible field within the air earlier than trotting to the sidelines, the sound of cheers recommended some Juventus supporters inside their dwelling Allianz Stadium had renewed hope.
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The choice within the knockout spherical play-off second-leg tie with Galatasaray was, certainly, overturned.
Nonetheless, the issue for the previous Bournemouth and Newcastle defender was that as an alternative of his second yellow card being chalked off, it was upgraded to a straight purple card.
The 27-year-old Kelly was livid with the Forty ninth-minute choice, booting a wall within the tunnel on his exit, whereas supervisor Luciano Spalletti wore a perplexed look on the sidelines.
Juventus had been 1-0 in entrance at that stage as they sought to overturn a 5-2 first-leg deficit to their Turkish opponents.
And regardless of being right down to 10 males, they rallied to steer 3-0, levelling the tie at 5-5 to pressure additional time till objectives from Victor Osimhen and Yilmaz .
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What do the legal guidelines say?
Within the Champions League, the VAR will solely test for clear and apparent errors regarding objectives, incidents within the penalty space, direct purple playing cards and circumstances of mistaken id.
At current, it is not going to intervene on yellow playing cards – so downgrading Kelly’s preliminary dismissal for a second bookable offence was by no means VAR’s intention.
Nonetheless, the ideas above apply solely when VAR is deciding to ship the referee to the monitor. As soon as the match official begins the overview, they’re in cost and may take no matter choice they deem acceptable.
Make sense?
By the way, soccer’s lawmakers the Worldwide Soccer Affiliation Board (Ifab) are VAR opinions for wrongly awarded second yellow playing cards at its annual basic assembly on Saturday.
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Kelly was as an alternative proven a straight purple for being deemed to have dedicated a critical foul after he landed on the again of Yilmaz’s Achilles following an aerial problem with the ahead.
So was it the right choice?
Former Premier League defender Curtis Davies mentioned the choice was an “absolute shame”.
“Kelly goes up for a header, he is gone for the header cleanly. His toes should land on the bottom someplace,” he added on BBC Radio 5 Dwell.
“Sadly, he lands on the participant. There must be a stage of understanding – the place is he meant to place his toes? I perceive Kelly’s frustration.”
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Davies’ sentiments had been echoed by soccer journalist Rory Smith, who known as the choice “terrible” and a “shame”.
In the meantime, former Tottenham midfielder Andy Reid felt soccer was “transferring nearer and nearer to being a non-contact sport”.
“There must be contact in soccer and generally individuals do get painful ones. It occurs. There’s nothing you are able to do about that. It is a part of the sport,” he mentioned.
Based on Uefa guidelines, any participant despatched off by the referee – whether or not that’s by way of two yellows or a straight purple – is mechanically suspended for the subsequent match in European membership competitors.
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Nonetheless, in gentle of Juventus’ exit from the Champions League, Kelly’s suspension will carry over to subsequent season.
Former Manchester Metropolis defender Nedum Onuoha added: “If I used to be Kelly I might be actually disenchanted, however with how soccer works, it is all the time going to be a purple.”
However former Liverpool full-back Stephen Warnock disagreed.
“I do not agree with it as a result of it’s purely unintended. I perceive the yellow card, however not the purple,” he mentioned.
Watch highlights of each Champions League sport from 22:00 on Wednesday on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport web site and app.
There will even be a Champions League Match of the Day on BBC One on Wednesday, from 22:40 to 00:00.