VAR chiefs branded ‘clueless’ as penalty may cost Rangers Champions League dream
VAR chiefs in charge of Rangers' Champions League fixture have been branded 'clueless' by outraged supporters following a contentious decision to award a penalty in Tuesday night's first-leg defeat.
The Gers were beaten 2-0 by Belgian outfit Royale Union Saint-Gilloise thanks to goals from Teddy Teuma and Dante Vanzeir and now face an uphill battle in attempting to reach the final play-off round of qualification.
Already 1-0 down and struggling to find their rhythm at Den Dreef, Giovanni van Bronckhorst's side conceded a bizarre spot-kick 14 minutes from time when a supposed handball by Connor Goldson was flagged to on-field official Irfan Peljto by the VAR team.
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A fierce strike from opening goalscorer Teuma was well defended by Rangers substitute Ben Davies but the block sent the ball hurtling towards Goldson's uplifted forearm with the Gers centre-back stood by in close proximity.
Following a lengthy VAR check, the Bosnian referee decided to award a penalty, which was cooly rolled into the bottom right corner by Vanzeir to hand the Jupiler Pro League side a 2-0 cushion going into the second leg on August 9. But fans have taken to Twitter to slam the hopeless officiating.
"Oh dear I’m all in for VAR like but how can that be avoided from 2 feet away especially when it has came back off someone else at pace l. That’s a howler I’m afraid," commented one enraged supporter.
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"I’m still in shock at this been given. You knew it would be as soon as he went over. That ref had a horror of a game tbh and this decision compounded it. If I was working at rangers I’d be demanding answers from UEFA and for the ref to be demoted. Simply unacceptable," fumed a second.
"This is probably the worst VAR decision I’ve ever seen . How can this be given as a penalty is mind blowing," seethed a third. Whilst a fourth claimed: "There’s nothing wrong with VAR, a competent official would look at the footage and decide it’s not a penalty. VAR is there to help the referees but some obviously need more than help."
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