Given the arithmetic of the group table, Aberdeen’s chances of qualifying for the Europa Conference League knock-out phase would have been slim even had they held on to their lead against PAOK last night. So this should not be taken as griping over a major opportunity lost…
A simple fact: Jack MacKenzie was fouled in the PAOK penalty area. That a spot-kick was not awarded for it is a truly extraordinary thing.
It is understandable that the on-field referee did not fully appreciate the nature of the kick on the Aberdeen full-back as he and Vieirinha chased the ball at full pelt.
From his angle it could easily have appeared to be a tangle of legs, or even that MacKenzie had manufactured it in the hope of buying a penalty at a pivotal moment.
But immediately it was apparent, from numerous corroborating replays, that the PAOK captain’s foot had kicked Mackenzie’s from under him.
The VAR team had clear and copious resource available to ensure that the official’s inadvertent mistake did not go uncorrected. That they failed to do so is unfathomable.
That is a pen. And it wasn’t checked? Crazy. https://t.co/F1MDhO3KVt
— Ryan Cryle (@RyanCryle) October 26, 2023
That they pulled up a far more obscure offence by Slobodan Rubezic in the last phase of the match was merely a final insult.
Used properly, VAR has the potential to improve the game significantly. Long and loud were the pleas for it to brought into a sport which lagged behind so many in its harnessing of technology, despite its huge advantages of prominence and wealth.
But it cannot be said that it has yet reached the point of overcoming human incompetence.
If anything, whatever advantages it is bringing are being outweighed by the anger of a theoretically foolproof system continuing to produce senseless errors.
Had we known then what we know now, perhaps we would have settled for swallowing decisions which, though bad, could at least be explained.
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