Just in: UEFA makes huge final decision on Jorginho’s foul on Grealish
Following the Euro 2020 final, Chelsea midfielder Jorginho appeared to have stamped Grealish with his boot, and despite the painful contact from the Italian’s boot high up on Grealish’s leg, he was only issued a yellow card by on-field referee Bjorn Kuipers.
VAR reviewed the incident but saw no reason to intervene, and UEFA referees’ chief Roberto Rosetti has clarified why it was so.
His explanation is that Jorginho first made contact with the ball before Grealish, else VAR would have overturned the decision to a red card.
“[Kuipers] saw Jorginho trying to play the ball – you can see him put his right foot on the ball and this is 100% clear and then the right foot is slipping on the ball and there is a second contact on the leg of the white seven player,” Rosetti is quoted as saying by The Guardian.
“The referee explained to the VAR exactly what he saw on the field of play.
“What is the duty of VAR? To check perfectly what the referee saw. So, for example, if the right foot was not on the ball but directly on the leg then the [decision would be overturned].”
Meanwhile, former Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard believes Chelsea midfielder Jorginho should have been sent off for his foul on Jack Grealish in England’s Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy.
“It feels like it follows on from VAR,” Lampard told the BBC.
“There’s been a lot of good things about VAR, but I’m pretty sure in the Premier League that gets looked at on the monitor and it’s a red card.
“It’s not always easy to nail them straight away. But I think it’s a red card when you see it there.”