Euro 2024 Ukraine-Italy match ends in refereeing scandal
Jesus Gil Manzano determined to show the direction of movement to Heorhiy Sudakov (photo: facebook.com/uafukraine)
Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano unexpectedly joined the blacklist of Ukrainian fans. He did not award an obvious penalty in favor of the Ukrainian national team at the end of the decisive qualifying match for the 2024 European Championship against Italy.
Read about the dubious achievement of the Spanish referee and his fellow enemies of the Ukrainian national team in RBC-Ukraine's article.
The 39-year-old referee from Extremadura, Spain, will be remembered for a long time by the Blue and Yellows' fan base. Needless to say, even the Italian media are cautiously recognizing the referee's mistake at the moment with a possible eleven-yard penalty in the fight between Mudryk and Cristante. We hope that Gil Manzano will be the last in the cohort of "men in black" for the Ukrainian national team. Because he is definitely not the first...
Doubtful decisions have accompanied Ukrainian football in the international arena since Soviet times. The Swedish referee Erik Fredriksson is just one example. The Scandinavian influenced the match of the 1/8 finals of the 1986 World Cup between the Belgian and Soviet national teams, half of which consisted of representatives of Dynamo Kyiv.
It was he who scored two questionable goals for the Belgians. Even the linesman signaled offside in the first case, but Fredriksson ignored his colleague's flag wave. In extra time, the Belgian national team managed to push Valeriy Lobanovsky's team (4:3). Nevertheless, the Swedish referee continued to officiate, and at the 1990 World Cup he "did not notice" how Maradona took the ball out of the Argentine goal line with his hand after a shot by Kyiv's Kuznetsov...
In the fall of 1997, Rune Pedersen joined the list of "criminals in robes". The Norwegian referee was appointed to the return match of the playoffs for the 1998 World Cup qualifiers between the national teams of Ukraine and Croatia. The Blue and Yellows lost in Zagreb (0:2), while in Kyiv they were ahead from the first minute.
In the 5th minute, Shevchenko opened the scoring. In one of the next attacks, Kosovskyi successfully played on the finish and forced Mrmić to pull the ball out of his own net for the second time. However, the Scandinavian referee had a different opinion. He trusted the touchline referee and declared the Ukrainian offside.
The Blue and Yellows lost their momentum, and in the middle of the half, Bokšić scored in response. The national press and fans unleashed hell on Pedersen. Although the quality of the broadcast and replays was such that there is still no clear answer about the correctness of the referees' decision. But Shevchenko's goal seems to have been offside...
Ukrainian fans had a new opportunity to scold the referee at the home Euro 2012. In the decisive match of the group stage, Oleg Blokhin's wards "burned" 0:1 to the British and in the second half threw all their strength to win back. In one of the episodes, Dević even sent the ball over the line, but the Hungarian Viktor Kassai did not notice the goal.
The first replay confirmed the referee's mistake. The Hungarian should have scored a goal, as Terry knocked the ball out from behind the goal line. However, the head referee might not have noticed this due to his own position, and his assistant near the net obviously missed the episode.
However, the thirst for technology like VAR would not have helped the Ukrainians here. The fact is that Milevsky was offside at the time of the diagonal pass to him. And only then did the scandalous Dynamo pupil pass to the Serbian Ukrainian...
But last year, the Ukrainian national team experienced a similar situation to the one in Leverkusen the day before. Another Spaniard, Antonio Mateu Laos, decided not to award an obvious penalty to Yarmolenko in the match against Wales. That match was even more important than the one against Italy, as the winner went on to the 2022 World Cup.
The Welsh took the lead in the 34th minute. It was Bale who forced Bushchan to capitulate with a direct free kick and a rebound from Yarmolenko. The Ukrainians got a chance to win back in five minutes - the culprit of the missed ball robbed Allen in someone else's penalty area and was hit in the legs.
A penalty kick? Mateu Laos didn't think so. For some reason, VAR took the referee's side. When in such moments the referees do not even go to replay the episode, the question arises - why was this expensive technology introduced in football at all?
For the record, the day before, the Ukrainian national team failed to win a decisive Euro 2024 qualifying match in Italy.
