It was one of the great blows of the day in the Copa Libertadores. As much as the duels between Argentines are historically always even, and even more so in the intercontinental competition, it was quite a surprise that Vélez Sarsfield was able to maintain the advantage achieved in the first leg (1-0 at the Amalfitani) and leave out River Plate, one of the top favourites. This Wednesday night, “El Fortín” managed to keep zero during his visit to the Monumental and got tickets for the quarterfinals.
He did, yes, with controversy. With ten minutes remaining for the match to end, Esequiel Barco headed down the left wing and took a precise cross that found Matías Suárez’s head almost in the small area. Everything was hugs and shouts in Núñez, River managed to match the series and stretch the definition to the point of penalty.
However, a few seconds later, when the match was due to resume, the national referee Roberto Tobar put everything on standby. He stopped, walked to the VAR and for five minutes parked to review, pixel by pixel, the play of the goal. Then, he determined that River’s striker had deflected the trajectory of the ball with his hand.
A decision that placed him in the eye of the hurricane in Argentina, because the touch was practically imperceptible. In the broadcast, for example, Mariano Closs and Diego Latorre did not believe his decision. “It is not enough to see it 45 times,” the former soccer player repeated.
For this reason, following the final whistle, River Plate players and coaching staff pounced on the Chilean judge to ask for explanations for what they considered to have been a robbery.
According to a lip reading made by the channel TyC Sports Later, it was possible to see how the assistant to the millionaires’ coach, Matías Biscay, was looking for Tobar: “Why do you cancel a goal if you are not sure?”
El Muñeco, meanwhile, asked him regarding another controversy that arose at the end of the match, when Diego Godín hit Beltrán, a striker for the local team, in the small area. “They don’t call you…, are you sure they don’t call you?” Gallardo asked the Chilean, confused.
Then he goes back to the controversial play: “You didn’t see the hand, it was a goal!” He tells him first. Then he asks her: “When did you doubt?”, and finally he asks her: “Did you see it?”.
The images show how, later, Gallardo laughs at the explanations that Roberto Tobar gives him, today surely the number one public enemy of the millionaire fan.
“If you have to search for something to search without being sure of what you are looking for, or search to search, there is a hint of total injustice. It is what is reflected in the play itself, to collect something that you are not sure regarding, ”the River Plate coach later claimed at a press conference.
