The penalty that the VAR gave to Defensa y Justicia brought controversy during and after the game at La Bombonera.
According to what defender Alexis Soto told journalists in the locker room area, referee Jorge Baliño confirmed that the sanction had been changed due to a gesture (wink of the eye) that the defender made to Nicolás Fernández.
“It was a clear penalty.
They had confirmed it.
But later Baliño told me that they went to check it because they saw the wink I gave him while screwing Uvita Fernández.
That's why they took the penalty from us.
Imagine that I'm not going to give myself a wink when I know that in the Bombonera there are thousands of cameras capturing everything,” Soto said.
It is clarified: the wink of the eye when the left-hander was on the ground was clearly observed in one of the repetitions.
The viral gesture on social networks: Soto's "wink" after the penalty against the Defense that was later annulled by the VAR.
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“From my perspective I had no doubts, it was a penalty.
On the court it seemed to me that Blondel was reckless on Soto's foot.
Later, with the VAR images, I see that it was not like that and that the player collided with his own leg,” Baliño explained.
Regarding the wink, he made no mention.
The controversial play of the game happened at the end of the initial stage.
Baliño took a penalty for Blondel's foul on Soto.
Contact, if it existed, was minimal.
In one of the repetitions it seemed like a penalty, in another it didn't.
But the curious thing is that after long minutes, Baliño was given the OK from the VAR and he revalidated the penalty.
Togni left the ball to Uvita Fernández and La Bombonera exploded with a deafening “dale Boca”.
"ON THE COURT IT WAS A RECKLESS CONTACT, THEN THE VAR SHOWED ME THAT THAT CONTACT DID NOT EXIST" Jorge Baliño referred to the action of the penalty annulled to Defense in La Bombonera.
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It was an electrifying moment;
The intention was to make the Falcon's attacker nervous.
It was a couple of seconds of suspense and the definition was unexpected: Pablo Dóvalo called Baliño for review, who removed the sanction.
Just as it was once said that La Bombonera saved a penalty in a game in 2016 against Atlético de Rafaela, it could be said that yesterday she pressured for the VAR to call the referee.
Later, of course, it became known: from Ezeiza they had seen Soto's wink at Uvita.
And they concluded that he was malingering.
"It was a clear penalty that the VAR did not charge. But I think the tie was fair," Uvita Fernández concluded.