In a matter of moments, Denmark lost everything this Saturday. In the 48th minute of their Euro 2024 round of 16 match against Germany (2-0), the Scandinavian country was denied a goal by VAR, after a slight offside. It was then 0-0. In the process, this same VAR intervened to award a penalty to the Mannschaft, converted by Kai Havertz (53rd, 1-0).
Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand was annoyed by the situation after the match, in a press conference. “For our goal (disallowed) it was decided by a centimeter, I have the photo here, that’s not how we should use VAR. And less than a minute later, there was this penalty awarded to Germany (for a handball in the area by Joachim Andersen, author of the goal disallowed earlier). I can’t stand these ridiculous decisions about hands anymore.”
“This match was decided by two VAR decisions”
According to the Danish coach, the rules regarding handball should be reviewed by the authorities. “We can’t ask our defenders to run without using their arms. In this situation, there is nothing abnormal, he jumps and he takes the ball in his arm. I rarely talk about the refereeing but there, it clearly decided the course of the match. It’s frustrating, very frustrating for my team. If we had led 1-0, it would have changed everything. Football, that shouldn’t be like that.”
Despite his frustration, Kasper Hjulmand still praised the German performance: “I want to congratulate Germany, we were under pressure for the first fifteen minutes, we were in survival mode. After that, it was more balanced, but this match was decided by two VAR decisions.” The host country qualified for the quarter-finals and will face the winner of the match between Spain and Georgia.
