The decision has divided opinion
Juventus did well to grind out a 2-0 victory against Valencia last night, after star player Cristiano Ronaldo was sent off just 29 minutes in.
Ronaldo was given his marching orders by the referee after a clash between the Portuguese forward and Valencia defender Jeison Murillo. Ronaldo appeared to kick out at Murillo before pulling his hair, or at least that’s the reason behind his dismissal. In truth, Ronaldo’s actions were not violent enough to warrant a straight red.
The red card the world is talking about.
Cristiano Ronaldo sent off after 29 mins on his Champions League debut for Juventus!pic.twitter.com/0dVVnkBUWL
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) September 19, 2018
That is the opinion of Juventus boss Max Allegri, who believes that the red card would not have been given if the referees were using VAR.
“I can only say that VAR would’ve helped the referee in this decision,” Allegri said,
“Going down to 10 men in the Champions League for an incident like that is disappointing.
“We risked losing tonight with this and we’ll miss him for the next games too.”
The referee had to confer with his assistant by the goal before he arrived at the decision to show Ronaldo a red card, but it is likely that had they had the benefit of access to replays of the incident, the former Real Madrid player would not have been sent off.
Ronaldo could possibly miss Juventus’ trip to Old Trafford, should the UEFA disciplinary panel decide to extend the automatic one-match ban to two.
