Referee consultant for RMC Sport during the Euro, the former delegated technical director of professional refereeing Stéphane Lannoy returned to the performance of French referee Clément Turpin during the opening Germany-Scotland match (5-1), Friday in Munich.
It’s not just Germany that has successfully entered the Euro. Clément Turpin also scored points Friday evening in Munich during the Germany-Scotland match (5-1). If he was officiating for the first time during an opening match of a European Championship, the one who is playing his 3rd Euro in a row managed the 22 players well with his two linesmen, Nicolas Danos and Benjamin Page and video assistant Jérôme Brisard: “It was a good performance by the French team for an opening match of the European Championship”, notes Stéphane Lannoy, the former deputy technical director of professional refereeing and arbitration consultant for RMC Sport during the Euro.
“The match was very well run”
“If we are a purist, we say to ourselves that there have been three uses of video assistance. When you are someone extremely demanding like Clément Turpin there must be a taste of unfinished business. That means that if it hadn’t been for the video assistance, there would have been three errors. But overall the match was very, very well run. He let the game live as soon as possible. did not have to sanction more than that (one red card, three yellow cards, editor’s note).
Regarding the first use of VAR on the penalty transformed into a free kick for the Mannschaft, Stéphane Lannoy recognizes that “the situation is really not obvious, the first fault being in fact outside the area.” Regarding the very dangerous tackle by Scottish defender Ryan Porteous, sent off, on Ilkay Gündogan, Stéphane Lannoy imagines that Clément Turpin must have thought that it had been committed “on the ball”, “which is why he did not whistle a penalty.” “We will see on the images thanks to video assistance that it is an extremely dangerous gesture, endangering the physical integrity of the opponent. The penalty and the red card are completely justified” believes Stéphane Lannoy. Finally, on the third use of VAR and the goal refused to Niclas Füllkrug, the former referee recalls that it was “validated by his assistant Nicolas Danos and will be refused for an offside position.”
“He was absolutely not in a form of authoritarianism”
By officiating this opening match, Clément Turpin also applied the new rule according to which he only discusses his decisions in the presence of the two captains. “We will have to see over the duration of the Euro, tempers Lannoy. When we are in matches with important points to qualify for the round of 16 and direct elimination matches, we will have to see if this behavior persists over time and whether the referees will sanction players who do not respect the rules.”
In Munich, Clément Turpin was in any case not perturbed by the pressure. “He is 42 years old, this is his third Euro, he has played in two World Cups, a Europa League final, a Champions League final. He is used to it,” recalls Stéphane Lannoy who also appreciated his attitude with the players. “He was in proximity, in exchange. We saw smiles on several occasions. He was absolutely not in a form of authoritarianism. He set up his arbitration in a framework of exchange, of proximity, of pedagogy and it was very well accepted.” And to summarize: “It’s a very good performance overall.”
