The noise made by the events occured during the recent match between Real Madrid and UD Almería continue, since the refereeing has been heavily criticized for a number of controversial decisions, including a handball goal by Vinicius Junior, a wrongly disallowed goal for Sergio Arribas, an unpunished penalty for Almería, and other actions that didn’t go unnoticed by the football community.
One of them was the alleged aggression/foul worthy potentially worthy of a red card for Vinicius Jr. against Alejandro Pozo. In a critical moment of the match, the Brazilian grappled with Pozo, and when trying to get him out of the way, the winger hit the Almeria player in the face in a situation where the ball was not in play.
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If UD Almería files a complaint, the Competition Committee could punish Vinicius: “A suspension of four to twelve matches will be imposed”
Recently, Gerard Romero leaked audios from the VAR room in which the Technical Refereeing Committee deliberates on the action, stating that, in their opinion, there was no foul:
- Hernández Hernández (VAR): Possible foul in attack. I want to see it. A little further back. Oh, I want to see it up close.
- Hernández Maese (Main Referee): What happened there? For me, nothing, just a struggle between the two. He complains about the face, but I don’t see it from here.
- Hernández Hernández: Yes, when he’s trying to get it away with his arm, in pushing him away, he hits him in the face, okay? When he’s trying to get him out of the way, he braces, and he hits him in the face, okay?
- Hernández Maese: Just a moment.
- Hernández Hernández: Let’s go live.
- Hernández Maese (to the Almería captain): Listen for a moment. They’re checking (VAR) if there was a hit. They’re looking at it upstairs.
- Hernández Maese (to VAR): Come on, we need to see that, team.
However, it was admitted that there was a direct hit from Vinicius to Alejandro Pozo’s face, and the VAR Referee did not call the main referee to review the play, which sparked criticism from various Spanish media.
The Catalan outlet Mundo Deportivo claims that if UD Almería decides to proceed legally with this evidence, Vinicius Jr. could face a very severe punishment that would keep him off the field between four and twelve matches.
The rules state the following:
“Assaulting another player, without causing injury, considering as a determining factor of the painful element necessary in this infraction, the circumstance that the action takes place with the game stopped or at a distance from where it is played that makes it impossible to intervene in a play, will be punished with a suspension of four to twelve matches.”
In response to the news that the RFEF will investigate the leak of the VAR audios where it is admitted that the refereeing body saw the aggression, the affected club, UD Almería, responded on social media with an ironic post about Vinicius’s handball goal.
https://t.co/hDtfNjqP97 pic.twitter.com/1mMhS0mf5q
— UD Almería (@U_D_Almeria) January 22, 2024
If UD Almería wants to proceed legally, they must go to the Competition Committee to file a complaint as an interested party according to the regulations of this disciplinary body, which in Article 22 ensures that an investigation with possible disciplinary proceedings would be initiated if reported “by order of the competent body, at the request of the interested party, or at the request of the Higher Sports Council.”
