VAR continues to attract controversy, despite a generally higher standard of officiating in the European Championship in comparison to the Premier League.
Fans watching the competition were left confused after Romelu Lukaku’s challenge during Belgium’s 2-0 victory over Finland – deemed by several neutrals to be a carbon copy of Ethan Ampadu’s red-card offence – went unpunished by Felix Brych and his refereeing team.
The Welshman had been given his marching orders during Wales’ 1-0 defeat at the hands of Roberto Mancini’s Italy outfit after his studs caught the ankle of Federico Bernardeschi.
READ MORE: (Video) Goalkeeper error hands Belgium lead after Vermaelen header ricochets off crossbar
In the spirit of fairness, the Belgian frontman’s challenge theoretically should have earned him an early return to the dugout, though nothing is as simple as that when it comes to the technology in question.
While thankfully rarer when it comes to international fixtures, it seems somewhat bizarre that a standard for such fouls hasn’t been agreed upon among referees and that such challenges can result in vastly varied decisions from officials and those operating VAR.
You can catch the fan reactions below:
Was there much or any difference with Lukaku just having a free-kick against him compared to Amapdu getting a red card last night?? pic.twitter.com/A0u1LoAoFJ
— Nigel Harris (@NigelBlues) June 21, 2021
This is genuinely a mirror imagine of Ampadu ??? VAR? Consistency? pic.twitter.com/ZWGfPlzs8B
— Ciaran ? (@CiaranJT7) June 21, 2021
No chance of them sending off one of the golden boys for a very similar foul to Ampadu’s pic.twitter.com/whjwRjDedl
— Ninian Opinion ??????? (@NinianOpinion) June 21, 2021
The exact same clumsy tackle. One was a red. One was nothing. VAR consistency = Non existent #VAR #Ampadu #lukaku pic.twitter.com/pSSIBTzoVa
— KathrynUTD? (@KathrynUTD) June 21, 2021