The match referee awarded two penalty kicks before changing his mind after being called by VAR. Decisions which counted in Montpellier's defeat at Saint-Etienne (1-0) on Saturday.
Montpellier's frustration after the defeat at Saint-Etienne also came from the decisions of referee Florent Batta. Twice, he awarded penalties to Montpellier which were then corrected by the VAR.
On the first, Abdelhamid tackles Téji Savanier while he was pushing the ball into the goal (37th). An intervention which seemed legal given the trajectory of the ball.
The second penalty kick refused to the MHSC was more contentious since we have the impression that Mousa Tamari was hit by Petrot but he was perhaps wrong to amplify his fall (53rd). It is therefore difficult not to be upset, especially since afterwards, two other balls will touch Abdelhamid's hands without either the referee or the VAR moving.
Eleven fouls, five yellow cards
And to top it all off, Florent Batta sanctioned the Montpellier residents who were logically upset after these cancellations. “I regret that following contrary decisions, we took so many yellows. Because the players are frustrated, because they also think that there is a penalty. A little psychology would have been needed. We can understand that a player comes to complain a little. There may be a verbal warning. judged Jean-Louis Gasset without calling into question the VAR.
Indeed, when we see that the Montpellier team made eleven fouls in the match and finished the game with five warnings, that's a lot. Especially when we think of the one received by Enzo Tchato who is penalized even though he touched the ball first and was hit by Sissoko (41st). The impression was that the MHSC was arbitrated… backwards.
