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After falling to the bottom of the table, Sion criticized his own performance. But even more a withdrawn penalty and the VAR.
Four rounds before the end of the season, FC Sion slipped to last place in the Super League. In the capital relegation duel against the former bottom from Winterthur, the Valais lost 0:1 at home. Although the players in Sitten also criticized their own performance, they were more concerned with something after the game: the penalty scene from the 71st minute.
Winterthur captain Yannick Schmid jumped the ball twice and referee Luca Cibelli immediately pointed to the point. But then the VAR intervened and after the referee saw the pictures, he withdrew his decision.
The horror at Sion was great. «We are not satisfied and frustrated. It’s not the same whether the whistle is for or against Sion. The same scene would have been decided the other way around for Winterthur, »said Sion sports director Barthélémy Constantin. Last week in the 2-2 draw against FCZ, the Valais had to struggle with a controversial penalty whistle – still against them. Defender Musa Araz probably hit the ball earlier than his Zurich opponent, but Blerim Dzemaili was then able to equalize from the point to the end.
Was VAR engagement justified?
Sion coach David Bettoni heard the bitterness after the Winterthur game in his brief statement: “You saw the wrong decision. Point.” Even Schmid, who was supposedly to blame, said: “Yes, the ball goes to the hand. But then there’s this discussion again as to whether there was a movement or not.”
There were indeed discussions afterwards, but the movement is not decisive in this case. SRF expert Kay Voser analyzed: “I can understand the Valais being annoyed. I’ve watched the scene so many times and I’m not sure either. But I would tend to say that it wasn’t a penalty. Because with Schmid, the rule applies that he supports himself on the ground – that is allowed and is not sanctioned with hands. »
However, Voser is critical of the fact that the VAR intervened. “Was the penalty call a clear wrong decision? Probably not. We’ve seen penalties like that before.”
I no longer felt the second hand touch on the screen and changed my decision.
Referee Cibelli himself said after the game that he should have let the game continue from the start. “I only saw a hand situation on the pitch when the player supported himself on the ground. This runs under the rule ‹supporting the body› (supporting the body, ed.). After that I saw a second contact and whistled. But that did not agree with the observations of the VARs, »explains Cibelli.
“On the screen, I no longer noticed the second hand touch and changed my decision.” The hand is really there to support the body, that should not be sanctioned.
All these explanations are of little use to FC Sion, who failed to win their 10th home game in a row and thus set a negative club record. Sports boss Constantin, who was annoyed about the repeated unequal treatment of his club, and the team have to check this off and improve in the remaining 4 games (against Servette, YB, Lucerne and St. Gallen) in order to get away from the Barrageplatz again.