Lyon – Nice
Following the questions raised by OGC Nice, the FFF Refereeing Department unambiguously recognized this Tuesday that a penalty should have sanctioned the foul on Guessand in the 48th minute of the Lyon – Nice match, in a “debrief” of several situations that occurred during the 13th day of Ligue 1.
“The images show the defender holding the attacker back, with a clear girdle of one arm, then both, and a lack of interest in the ball”writes the DTA on the official website of the federation. “The light sole on the attacker's left foot cannot in itself justify a penalty. The intervention of the defender does not allow the attacker to continue his action after control of the ball, and constitutes a fault within the meaning of Law 12. A penalty was therefore expected following the viewing at the edge of the field, as well as 'a warning to the offender for unsporting behavior'.
The soundtrack of the use of VAR in the 48th
The Refereeing Department goes further in transparency by publishing the soundtrack of the exchange between the central referee and the VAR (video above)allowing us to rule out the hypothesis of a hand from the Nice attacker and attesting to the fault on the upper body (even if that on Guessand's foot is not mentioned).
A use of video assistance which unfortunately will not convince Mr. Dechepy to modify his initial decision, as we can hear in the recording.
