Real Madrid beat Villarreal 1-0 in La Liga on Saturday. Yan Diomande scored in the 63rd minute, from a Valverde pass. VAR checked a possible offside. It allowed the goal. It does that too, sometimes.
In the 71st, Vinicius Junior scores. VAR goes back. Not by a few seconds. All the way to the start of the move, where he had pulled the hair of Nathan Saliba, the former Anderlecht player. Goal disallowed. Red card in the 72nd.
In 1980, the referee saw the foul, or he didn’t. If he didn’t, it went home with us. We talked about it on Monday at the friterie, the Belgian chip shop. We didn’t find it again a minute later on a screen. VAR isn’t progress, it’s a confession. Here, it confesses everything, even what came before.
I’m not criticising. I’m comparing. The rules were applied, the fact was there. What has changed is time. A goal used to last long enough to applaud it. Now it lasts as long as it takes to review it.
The rest of the match, I read in my weekly football magazine. Kylian Mbappé had several big chances. Gulacsi saved every one. Thibaut Courtois made several saves, including one from Gerard Moreno. Down to ten men, Real held on to the 1-0. A goalkeeper who stops shots. That, at least, hasn’t changed.
A VAR that sides with an ex-Anderlecht player, I call that historic. I’m weighing my words.
José Mourinho refused to speak to the press after the match. Managers didn’t say much in the old days either. But nobody waited for them as much. Well. It’s the times.
It’s true, we checked: HLN.
