RONALDO’S RED CARD INCIDENT: IT IS FINALLY TIME FOR VAR

Ehiogu Bede Justin
Cristiano Ronaldo was issued a straight red card by referee Felix Brych as Juventus faced Valencia at the Mestalla.
The Portuguese captain was making his first Champions League appearance for the Italian heavyweights, and there were, no doubt, high hopes and expectations on the star forward, particularly since he had already broken his duck in the Serie A with a double against Sassuolo. However, Ronaldo’s fans would have to wait a bit longer to see him get off the mark in the Champions League as he faces up to three games on the sidelines. But the question is: should Ronaldo even have been dismissed, much less miss the game against Young Boys, and potentially two legs against former club Manchester United?
In the 28th minute of the game at the Mestalla, Ronaldo tangled with Valencia defender, Jeison Murillo, in an off-the-ball incident. The referee, Brych, was alerted to the incident by the fifth official and then proceeded to award Ronaldo a straight red card, on his assistant’s advice, immediately generating controversy across the footballing world.
The replay showed that indeed there was contact between Ronaldo’s foot and Murillo’s leg, but it was not a kick – in the appropriate sense of the word – it was a tap; and there was no way the assistant referee could have seen it. After that, Murillo threw himself to the floor; and Ronaldo, annoyed by what he perceived to be a needless dive, appeared to have grabbed his hair. The defender then rose to challenge him before they were separated by teammates.
Ronaldo showed no signs of violence or misconduct against Murillo; it appeared to be more or less a tap on the head than a violent ruffle. It was naughty, but it was not a red card. At most, it would have been a yellow card.
VAR is useful in such situations as this, for it grants the referee the benefit of hindsight. It is unlikely even the fifth official saw the incident clearly in real time. The whole incident was very murky and perhaps unfair; it should not be so in Europe’s elite competition. UEFA has given so many excuses for not introducing VAR, but they cannot put it off for long when such controversies as this arise. They cannot ignore technology and rely on human faculties, prone to error; man has left the Stone Age. We ask this question every single time: What does the fifth or sixth official – the assistant referees – do? Now we know: they make a mess of things, and it’s high time they were scrapped.