It was one of the plays that were analyzed yesterday at the arbitration seminar held in Las Rozas.
There were no doubts about the penalty for some referees, and others supported Díaz de Mera’s decision due to the exaggeration of the footballer’s fall.
This Tuesday, all the referees and assistants of professional football met in Madrid. The first were all in person; in the case of the attendees, it was done telematically due to COVID health issues. A meeting within the weekly seminars organized by the arbitration establishment but where the president of the CTA, Luis Medina Cantalejo, sent a demanding message to his members when making decisions. Both in the field and those taken from the VAR room. A criticism accompanied by unity and demand for this final stretch of the championship.
It was a seminar of more than three hours where many plays were analyzed, especially from the last two days, and among them, Catena’s penalty against Barça player Gavi last Sunday at the Camp Nou. Play occurred in the match’s final moments and where he was not sanctioned by the referee Díaz de Mera.
An action on which there was no total unity within the arbitration establishment. A part of the referees understood that the referee should have punished the play with a penalty when understanding that there was a clear push by the Madrid team player.
However, another group supported the referee’s decision, considering that the push exists, the Barça player greatly exaggerates the fall, which explains why the referee understood that the player had magnified a simple contact by the rival defender. And in this decision also, as it happened on Sunday, the VAR cannot enter because it is refereed on the field. As there is this exaggeration in the fall, the images do not show that there is a clear and manifest error that requires the referee to be notified field to modify their decision or go to the monitor to review.
