The phase that got people talking the most last weekend was of course that of Bangoura’s hand during the Limburg derby. But there were also two refereeing errors during Beerschot-Cercle.
The first ultimately had no consequences, since it was the red card that Edgar Utkus did receive following his violent tackle on Antoine Colassin. The Lithuanian defender was sent off after intervention by the VAR, who called Kevin Van Damme to view the video.
Jonathan Lardot, head of Belgian arbitration, regrets that video assistance intervention was necessary in this situation. “We were paying attention to a direct red card. There is no need for VAR to analyze this situation,” he regrets in Under Review.
“The referee was in a perfect position, so we are surprised that he did not make the decision to exclude the player from the Circle himself.” Lardot, however, is pleased that in these circumstances, the VAR “did its job well”.
This will not be Mr Van Damme’s only mistake. Later, the VAR will have to intervene to detect an arm fault by a Cercle de Bruges player in the penalty area. “The penalty was obvious. Here too, the referee was well placed,” regrets Mr Lardot.
“Perhaps he was still thinking about the previous phase. But we can clearly see that the defender’s arm is not stuck to the body,” said the Belgian refereeing boss. A bad evening, therefore, for Kevin Van Damme. It is perhaps no coincidence that he was left to rest in the round of 16 of the Belgian Cup.
