UEFA ruled on Anthony Taylor and Stuart Attwell’s decision to disallow Xavi Simons’ goal during their Euro 2024 draw with France.
France dominated proceedings in the second round of fixtures in Group D but failed to find the back of the net in 14 shots - their most without scoring in a major tournament since the Euro 2016 final defeat to Portugal.
The Netherlands thought they had broken the deadlock against the run of play when Simons drilled a low shot from the edge of the area past Mike Maignan.
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However, after a lengthy VAR check, the goal was ruled out as Denzel Dumfries was adjudged to be in an offside position.
The decision caused plenty of controversy and several referees have already been dismissed by UEFA as a result of decisions made in the tournament.
Now, UEFA have ruled on Taylor and Attwell’s call, stating it was the ‘totally correct’ decision.
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“The UEFA referee committee totally supported the decision,” said Roberto Rosetti who is UEFA’s referees’ chief.
Fans have noticed the majority of VAR decisions were completed in a swift manner compared to the speeds in the Premier League but this particular check was longer than usual.
Rosetti admitted there was room for improvement in the time it took to reach the correct decision but conceded it was not an easy call to make.
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He added: “We think that the decision is right and we are also happy about the process.
“There are always elements for improvement. In this situation, the element of improvement is the duration of this review. For sure the duration can be less, we can decrease the duration of the review (but) I want to tell you that it’s not easy.
“In this situation the VAR checked two possible offsides, he had to check the possible impact of the attacker on the goalkeeper and a previous contact between two other players.
“Then we can add that we are at the Euro, the pressure is the pressure, and of course we always support accuracy. At the end the decision is totally correct.”
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Atwell was at the centre of a VAR storm in the Premier League last season after Nottingham Forest issued an extraordinary social media post after losing to Everton where they felt a number of decisions went against them.
Rosetti reserved special praise for the referee during his media briefing saying: “When Stuart is speaking it is like the book of VAR in modern football and VAR application.
“Everything was clear.”
Marcus Banks