The head of FIFA’s Referees’ committee said Video Assistance Referee (VAR) must not show the ‘wrong idea of solidarity’ by appearing to protect officials who make mistakes on the pitch.
VAR oversaw three penalty decisions in Thursday’s Premier League games and all were later deemed to be incorrect.
“Another thing to be considered (is) a sort of wrong idea of solidarity,” Collina said. “If you belong to a team, you always try to protect your team mates. If your team mate made a mistake you try to find everything to say ‘no, no, no, he was correct’.
“It’s a sort of friendship I’d say. Referees must understand the solidarity and friendship that they want to show is to tell their colleague ‘be careful, you might have made a mistake’.
“‘It’s better that you have another chance watching the incident on a monitor, you have assessed probably wrongly,’ so that finally you can avoid a mistake.”
Former World Cup referee Collina, 60, said wrong decisions taken in important games can “really kill a referee’s career.
“VAR is a very important safety net,” he added.
Jose Mourinho wants to seek explanation
The VAR was involved in controversy during the last round of Premier League matches, prompting Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho to say that match officials should be obliged to explain their decisions.
Mourinho preferred not to discuss Oliver during his news conference on Friday, but said officials should be forced to speak with managers to explain decisions.
Mourinho was left baffled after Harry Kane was denied what looked a clear penalty early on in the 0-0 draw at Bournemouth on Thursday, even though it was referred to the VAR officials.
On the same night Bruno Fernandes earned Manchester United a penalty at Aston Villa despite appearing to tread on Ezri Konsa’s leg. Tottenham were also denied a Kane goal at Sheffield United after VAR ruled that Lucas Moura had used his arm despite the Brazilian being fouled and falling to the floor.
Michel Oliver was the VAR referee on both of the Tottenham incidents and he will be the on-pitch official on Sunday when Spurs host Arsenal in the north London derby.
“I don’t know who the VAR was at Villa, in our match was Paul (Tierney) (as) the referee on the pitch and the referee boss was Michael Oliver. I think you should have access to them, I know the rules don’t allow it,” Mourinho said.
“It would make things much more open, much more clear. It would give the referee the opportunity to say, ‘Yes, I made a mistake — I feel sorry for that’, or ‘Yes I had incredible performance’, or ‘Yes I was perfect’.” He aggrieved.
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