Behind his mask, in the mixed zone of the Parc des Princes, we can guess that Pierrick Capelle is not really smiling.
His first words, after his team's short defeat against PSG (2-1) after a penalty awarded late in the game for a hand from him on an Icardi header, quickly confirmed the impression.
He talks about "frustration", "anger" and hopes that this episode "will make enough noise so that it cannot happen again".
He then tells the origin of the wrath of the Angevins.
“Clearly,” he said, “Icardi is fouled by Romain Thomas at the start of the action, when the ball hits Mbappé.
Romain Thomas falls and Icardi finds himself all alone.
Me, I try to intervene when he makes the face.
It is not on target but the referee is just judging that the ball is touching my arm.
And the VAR judges only this end image.
But if Icardi is not fault, Romain is marking.
What does the referee say?
“Let him check the action,” Capelle explains.
But it is clear that the VAR judged only the hand.
At the end of the match, Capelle walks up to Mr. Dechepy.
"Can you be honest enough to tell me you were wrong?"
He tells me that they checked everything… ”
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His trainer, Gérald Baticle is just as marked by the outcome of the evening. "There is frustration with me, with the players, the supporters, incomprehension and even anger," he said. I don't feel good, I said I would never cry over refereeing errors. I am in favor of VAR which corrects 80% of the errors, but when you are in the remaining 20% there is a great feeling of injustice. We do not understand why the VAR came back two seconds on the second goal. Everyone saw it, we were told, and we saw it again. And on the first goal, it's still quite simple to locate the body in relation to Mbappé's hand. It's really hard to lose like this against PSG. If we are to be at 100%, the VAR must be too. "
"I would rather take five and have them run around the game rather than lose like that"
Romain Thomas, defender of the SCO, at the microphone of Amazon Prime judges "incredible what is happening". “Losing here, continues the player jostled by Icardi, it's not a shame but like that no, it's impossible. We work all week to do something clean. It's abnormal that they don't take the time, the referees. VAR is starting to tire me this story. We put millions in there, we don't even know how to use it. It bothers me. Me, I am passionate, dedicated, I pay attention to what I do. There, Icardi was fouled at the start of the action, he pulled my arm, I fell and, afterwards, he played from his position to get the penalty. I'm frustrated. I'd rather take five and have them run us through the game rather than lose like that ”.
For his part Mauricio Pochettino remains cautious on the VAR: "It's very difficult, it's not easy, from here, it's not easy to see, I don't know, it's the VAR, advance he does.
Sometimes it's for us, sometimes it's against us, I understand that the opponents complain, but that's how it is.
I think it's important to have this tool to clarify these situations, but I think it's not easy for the referees.
Sometimes we have to trust them and it's complicated, we would have preferred to win otherwise, but in reality it is not easy for the referees.
"
