Many doubts remained about the penalty that the referee Raphael Claus charged for the controversial hand of Nicolás Tagliaficor in the 89th minute, which ended in Ecuador’s 1-1 draw against Argentina (Gerónimo Rulli saved it but couldn’t with the rebound, which Enner Valencia changed for a goal).
and this wednesday Conmebol published the audios of the conversation that the judge had with the VAR assistants to determine that “the hand is high and low when going to pass the ball”.
THE FULL TALK OF THE REFEREE CLAUS AND THE VAR
WHERE: Wait Claus, don’t resume.
WHERE: It looks like natural movement. Give me faster. Yes, it hits him in the hand. Give me another angle. Give me another camera, keep going, give me back, I want to see the movement of the hand.
Claus: For me it is in a natural position.
WHERE:He has his hand up and then down to touch the ball. He makes a downward motion and hits the hand.
AVAR: A far and looping
WHERE: Those are the best cameras I have. Let’s have him evaluate. Because he has a natural position and then lowers his hand. There he has it wide
Claus: For me it is a natural position.
WHERE: But look at that downward movement. I recommend an On Field Review to review a possible penalty by hand.
WHERE: Claus, this is the moment of hand contact.
Claus: Ok.
WHERE: I’m going to loop you with that one.
Claus: Okay. The hand is high and low when he is going to pass the ball…
WHERE: I’m going to show it to you from another front angle to look at the movement from top to bottom.
Claus: OKAY. Do you have a better angle?
WHERE: The best I have, where it can be seen clearly, is the above.
Claus: Ok, give me normal speed… He’s with his arm up and down at the moment the ball is about to pass. He blocks the ball.
WHERE: Correct.
Claus: I’m going to come out with a penalty and a yellow card for number 3.
THE UNLOADING OF TAGLIAPHICO
“I felt a touch and indeed when I saw the play, what I try to do is lower my arm, to hide it,” the 29-year-old began by explaining. “The referee told me that the penalty is charged because I try to lower my arm, when it should be the other way around… These things make me helpless.” And he continued, hot: “It also makes me angry because today it didn’t happen to majors, but in a classification, in a World Cup this happens to you and what do you do?”. However, he ended by rescuing the positive of the night: “Well, that’s it. I’m happy with the effort made by the team…”.
WHAT DID RULLI SAY ABOUT THE CRIMINAL CONTROVERSY?
“Nico tells me that it hit him in the hand but that it was close to his body, I don’t know,” said the post-match goalkeeper, still on the field of play, about the dubious situation. Minutes later, the Ajax player gave his testimony on the TyC Sports microphones and was very upset with the referee’s decision.
